All-female showcase Promoting My Sisters shows off Pittsburgh’s hip hop, spoken word and burlesque

Promoting My Sisters began five years ago, born out of rapper Dr. HollyHood’s frustration after attending endless amounts of hip-hop shows with all-male lineups.

“These guys would justify their lineups by saying, ‘There are no female rappers in the city!’ But I, a female rapper, was there watching the show. That just wasn’t true,” she says.

Tired of the excuses she was hearing, Dr. HollyHood (an occasional CP contributor) decided to create an all-female showcase to prove not only were there plenty of female artists in the city, but there were also more than enough to put on their own stacked showcase.

“Now when guys ask where the female artists are, I point to PMS,” explains HollyHood. “Here’s 20 of them.”

This year’s event at Howlers features a mix of hip-hop, spoken-word and burlesque performances. Veteran spoken-word performer, academic and activist Medina Jackson, a.k.a. I Medina, is scheduled to perform. Her poem, “I Am the Mother of a Black Son,” is just one example of the powerful prose she weaves. Bringing the bad-ass burlesque and a message of body positivity is Luscious D, while LadyTBadd spits bars over catchy beats with earworm hooks like those in “Don’t Think Though.”

Showcasing 20 female artists on one bill is a great opportunity for exposure, but Dr. HollyHood doesn’t expect these artists to perform for free. “It has always been really important to me to make a way to pay these women,” she says.

The P.M.S. system empowers performers to promote their own work by utilizing a ticket link that allows attendees to buy a ticket directly from the artist they are coming to see. As a result, a 10-minute performance can be profitable. And hopefully, promoters from around town will do the legwork and scout out some artists for their next showcases.

Promoting My Sisters (PMS Showcase)
9 p.m. Sat., May 6. Howlers, 4509 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. $12. www.tinyurl.com/PMSShowcase