“Fresh, Bold, and So Def: Women in Hip-Hop Changing the Game,” the upcoming publication by New York’s Hip-Hop Association features Melisa Rivière as one of its most influential players. Melisa is a Latina hip-hop audio-visual producer, scholar, educator, and activist whose work spans from the Twin Cities to the Caribbean. She is a MacArthur Scholar Ph.D. candidate in the Anthropology Department at the University of Minnesota whose research focuses on the global diffusion of the four elements of hip-hop in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Melisa has worked with In The House Magazine, Songo Sounds, Time Machine Squad, and The Lab Studios in Puerto Rico, as well asThe Cuban Agency for Rap, La Fabri K, Movimiento Magazine, the Hermanos Saíz Association, 26 Musas and Real70 Studios in Cuba. Her work on either island includes documenting hip-hop conferences, festivals, and live performances, leading keynote talks and pedagogical workshops, as well as producing audio recordings and music video clips with Anónimo Consejo, Tego Calderón, Doble Filo, Los Aldeanos, SieteNueve, Intifada, and Obsesión amongst others. As a pioneer hip-hop scholar, Melisa teaches courses in Anthropology and Global Studies at various Twin Cities’ universities and college campuses. In the role of co-founding director of ‘B-Girl Be: A Celebration of Women in Hip-Hop’ at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, she advocates for the empowerment of women and youth within the movement. Merging academia with entrepreneurship, Melisa founded Emetrece Productions, an audio-visual production company and independent label that focuses on ‘edu-tainment’ making education entertaining and entertainment educational.

Link to Emetrece Productions web site at http://www.emetreceproductions.com