Performance

HOW OFTEN, really, does a one-off gig at a hip-hop club lead to a nonprofit arts and education project with an office, a grant writer, 12 (and counting) off-site youth outreach programs, and an invitation to speak at the upcoming National Hip Hop Summit at New York City's Bronx Art Museum? Not very often, probably, but Sisterz of the Underground, a collective of DJs, MCs, singers, dancers, break-dancers, graffiti artists, and poets – "Every style of hip-hop you could represent," executive director Sarah Smalls says – is proof that it's possible.

The idea, back in January 2001, was to throw a party at the Justice League, a one-time event in which a gang of performers could provide some sense of community and get the message out to the world – or at least the local boys – that female hip-hoppers exist and can be found on the mic, at the turntables, on the floor, and in all other aspects of the culture.

Clearly the evening was a success, because within a couple months SOTU had turned into a full-blown collective. And its members were soon performing all over town, hosting workshops at youth conferences, and laying the groundwork for the network of educational arts programs SOTU now runs through youth organizations, in schools, and at community centers throughout the Bay Area, focusing its efforts on kids and teenagers operating at an educational and financial disadvantage.

As the group has grown in size and mission, its ranks have opened up. The early aim of carving out a place for girls in hip-hop is still explored through initiatives like the group's involvement with Oasis in SoMa and Girls 2000 in Hunters Point. But many of the programs now include boys, and half the instructors are male, Smalls says, pointing out that "it's good for the kids to see men and women working together."

SOTU's all-girl breaking crew, Extra Credit, has performed at festivals such as Ladyfest Bay Area and In the Streets and at Intersection for the Arts' "Hybrid Project." The group's artist-instructors work with organizations ranging from the Delinquency Prevention Commission to the San Francisco Public Library. They'll step in most places there's a chance to entertain and educate. And they do so with an explosive energy that can turn casual observers into diehard fans and, better yet, participants. SOTU has turned into something Smalls recently referred to, half-jokingly, as a "hip-hop temp agency."

That's one way of putting it. Another would be to say that they've found a way to turn a love of hip-hop, as expressed through the visual artistry of graffiti, through the movement of breaking, and through music and rhyming and poetry, into a tool for changing lives.

It's often under discussion whether art with such a purpose can be successful. Phrases like "making change" get thrown all over the place, and people get so tired of hearing it they forget to consider the static alternative. The members of Sisterz of the Underground have considered it and moved on. (Lynn Rapoport)