Hanifah Walidah was born on October 16 in New York, New York. Hanifah Walidah is an “artist, friend, woman, black, lesbian, shit-talker. In that order.” She cultivates societal perceptions by her music, playwriting, education, and artistic activism.
Hanifah Walidah first arrived in 1999 in Oakland, California, where she would launch her play called Straight Black Folks Guide to Gay Black Folks. She does not currently live in Oakland; she moved to Atlanta.
Her rich twenty-year career has taken an ethnographic approach to the arts and social change. In the early ’90s, she spearheaded and laid the foundation for the hip-hop poetic revolution in New York with collectives The Vibe Khamelons and The Boom Poetic. She was signed to Imago Records in 1993 to release her debut album, A Head Nädda’s Journey to Adidi-Skizm, which produced the infectious single “Soulsville.”
Appearing as Shä-Key with the 1994 hip-hop release, A Head Nädda’s Journey to Adidi-Skizm, she has since, along with claiming the name Hanifah Walidah, developed a vocal and performance style that is rooted in the midnight of blues, the backrooms of house, the silent moments of soul, and the unshaken will of hip hop.
Haunts:
- You could find Hanifah on Wednesday nights at The Open Word at the Oakland Box (1928 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612), where favored local poets and playwrights Walidah, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and Aya de Léon remixed excerpts of their works to tell a new story (9 p.m., $10).
- Thursday night is The Open Soul at Oaklandish (411 2nd Street, Oakland, CA 94607), where Walidah, Tim’m West, Nonamenko, and Gabrilla Ballard performed specially selected songs, fusing them into a hip-hop/soul musical theater concoction (9 p.m., $10). These places were affordable ways for Hanifah to reach her community.
~ by Nyisha Young ~
External Links:
Walidah, Hanifah. About page. Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/mswalidah/about?section=bio&lst=100005941787934%3A698120706%3A1576303049. Accessed 15 Sept. 2020.
Hanifah Walidah on Instagram: “Happy Birthday Toilani!”
Hanifah Walidah -Theater
