Detroit's female MC's hold hip-hop's torch aloft

For two years, The Foundation, produced by photographer and hip-hop lover Piper Carter, has showcased the best up-and-coming female hip-hop talent to be found in this city at Corktown's 5E gallery. But did you know it's the nation's only regularly-scheduled event for lady MCs? Either did we. While rappers like Eminem, Elzhi and Big Sean have made headlines of late, the Guardian calls Detroit the nation's training ground for developing female hip-hop performers. We're glad to see Invincible, Miz Korona, Boog Brown and the rest of the gang get some much-deserved props.

Excerpt:

Boog Brown (Elsie Swann) now lives in Atlanta, but is enthusiastic about the amount of female talent bursting out of Detroit.

"I think everybody there felt like it was time for us to actually take control of what we wanted to be represented as in that scene," she says. "It's a call to action. It's time for it now. I felt like it's that, or there wouldn't be so many women stepping up. And Detroit is a hard place to live, no matter how long you've lived there or not lived there. It's hard, but it's beautiful: there's always something new, growing, transpiring."

The beat drops here.