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nadirah

@hinadirah

431

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historian • tv lover • producer • archivist
author of first things first (twelve, 2024)
ceo: @thegumbo @remembernewjersey @historybooksomitted

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when your best friend is a baker and she turned your debut book into a cake! please support her at @ohsweetmason!🫶🏾and get your copy of FIRST THINGS FIRST: HIP-HOP LADIES WHO CHANGED THE GAME right now if you haven’t yet! available wherever you get your books! 🥳📸: @rabbitvision by @hinadirah

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2 years ago

i cannot believe it’s been a week since the release of FIRST THINGS FIRST. i’m loving everyone’s book selfies and messages about what they’ve learned. if you haven’t gotten your copy yet and want to know more about the legacies of women rappers, designers, writers, stylists, party promoters, and more in hip-hop, this is the book for you! purchase it now wherever you like to get your books! 🫶🏾✨ by @hinadirah

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2 years ago

sharing this months later since the strike is over. it was an honor to be a part of ‘ladies first’ on netflix alongside so many legendary women in hip-hop. executive produced by dream hampton, this was a dream. thank you so much @syreetagates for including me in this docuseries. please watch it if you haven’t yet and support the wonderful women who made it. one of my biggest dreams, achieved 😭🫶🏾and thank you to @gaptoothstyles for putting them heart braids in my head the day before 😭😭😭 i appreciate you so much! by @hinadirah

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3 years ago

spent some time at the @burlcohistsoc to do some research and left with even more than i anticipated. all it took was a brief conversation with the staff for them to cover my workspace with original documents from the 1700s, news articles that haven’t been digitized and aren’t available online, books that are out of print, pamphlets from legendary events/ceremonies, and so much more. here’s look at some of the Black history i saw.thank you so much to the good people over at @burlcohistsoc for all of your help and all of the work you do to preserve our history. i encourage everyone to spend a few hours at their local historical society, you never know what you may learn about the place you live in. by @hinadirah

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8 days ago

hip-hop journalism changed everything, and this sunday we’re talking about how. i’m excited to be back in the windy city this weekend (june 6+7) for the american writers festival, and i’m even more excited to join @syreetagates, @karengoodmarable, and @waldens_block for the “word is bond: hip-hop journalism” panel to talk about the publications that changed the game! click the link in my bio to see the full lineup of 90+ renowned writers from across the nation, and make sure you pull up on us on sunday at the harold washington public library at 11am ct. after we wrap i’ll be signing copies of my book ‘first things first’ from 12:30pm-12:50pm. *also i can eat dairy again so somebody direct me to the best pizza! by @hinadirah

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2 months ago

my love for the roc and state property runs deeeeeep. their music soundtracked my childhood, and what they did in fashion and film was inspirational. a few years ago i wrote a blurb in shea serrano’s ‘hip-hop and other things’ about one of my favorite hip-hop moments: when beanie sigel joined hov onstage at his b-sides show, followed by chris, neef, and freeway. the best of the best came together for a once in a lifetime moment that i probably would never get the chance to see live and in-person, or so i thought. saturday at roots picnic was easilyyyy the best night of my life. my favorite rapper and my favorite rap group in my favoriteeeeee city. i’ll never let anyone who listens forget that philly is one of the most important music cities in the world with some of the BEST rappers to ever do it. period. shout out to the prop! by @hinadirah

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2 months ago

every single time i log onto ancestry.com i learn something that shakes up my entiiiiiiire day lol. there were a few of those discoveries this week, but this one in particular was so nuts i felt compelled to share. when i decided to major in journalism in undergrad i didn’t know that someone else in my family shared the same interest, that someone being my grandmother. i was looking at her yearbook the other night when i came across a picture of the journalism class and there she was right there in the middleeeeeee 😭 telling stories and telling them with accuracy and fairness is what inspired my entertainment aspirations and the creation of @thegumbo. very cool to find out this passion existed in my family long before i was even a thought! by @hinadirah

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2 months ago

today marks the end of the late show with stephen colbert and a television institution. what it doesn’t mark the end of? the brilliance that exists in every single person who called 1697 broadway home at one point in time. working at colbert was the privilege of a lifetime. as a fresh-faced 21 year old only a few months removed from graduation, to say i was nervous as heck for my first day would be an understatement. those feelings didn’t last long, as i was welcomed with open arms by some of the best in the business. from props to stagehands to producers to writers and every department in between, every single person was ridiculously good at their jobs and didn’t hesitate to help you learn. and stephen? there’s no better leader on this planet. his kindness, talent, and spirit should be a model for us all on how to steer a ship and straight up be a good person. my grandkids will know about the six years i spent there, not because it was a cool job or because of the friendships i made or the famous people i got to meet (even though yall know robert de niro day was the best day of my life lol). all of those things are true for sure, but they’ll know about the late show because i’ll encourage them to seek spaces that make them feel the way this place made me feel. a place that tells the truth and teaches you. those are the places you need to be in. those are the places you’ll never forget. anyone out there building a team would be oh so lucky to work with this crew. they truly are the best to ever do it. #colbert by @hinadirah

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2 months ago

slept, ate, hiked a volcanic plug, and slept some more 🥭 by @hinadirah

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2 months ago

been researching heavy on @ancestry for about a year now and it’s really wild how deep their archive is. i have these pictures of my grandfathers at the crib, but i had never seen these pictures of my grandmothers until i started researching on ancestry. finding their high school yearbooks and seeing their interests and superlatives has been so much fun. it’s also been cool to track their journeys from philly and north carolina to maryland and jersey.if you’ve been considering looking up your ancestry but have been hesitant because you don’t think you’ll find anything, please give it a try! at this point in my journey i’ve made it all the way back to my 5th great-grandfather who was born in 1795. it’s soooooo important that we preserve our family history. digitally and physically.swipe for a pic of baby me with all four 🥹🤎 by @hinadirah

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5 months ago

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5 months ago

y’all won’t believe what i found in my house last week! long story short, i was doing some research on willingboro, new jersey, a town that means a lot to my family and i. at one point it time, it was a “levittown.” not sure if you know much about the history of levittowns in america, but they were built in the 1950s as suburban housing developments for white vets and their families. if you weren’t white you couldn’t live there. the deed restrictions literally prevented it. in 1958, reverend willie r. james sr. was an army officer stationed at fort dix who wanted to move into the levittown in new jersey. he was denied, of course, due to those racist deed restrictions that didn’t allow Black people to buy a house there. and guess what he did? he filed a discrimination suit that made it all the way to the new jersey supreme court. and won. willie went on the become head of the burlington county chapter of the naacp and continued to fight for civil rights.today, willingboro (formerly levittown) is predominantly Black, and it’s a place that my family has built businesses in, learned from, educated in, and more. it’s also where i attended pre-school, kindergarten, and summer camp-shout out to primary colors learning center! for this project i’ve been working on i’ve been trying to find as many pictures as i can of the Black people who shaped willingboro, and ultimately new jersey as a whole. and when i tell you i could only find four photos of rev. willie after searching for hours?! that was it. just those four photos.or at least, that’s what i thought.last friday i randomly decided to go through some of the cabinets at home to collect some magazines i’ve been wanting to scan. and guess what i found when i opened one of them? a picture in a frame, of my pop-pop and reverend willie james sr. standing in front of pennypacker elementary school. the school was renamed in willie’s honor and my pop-pop was the principal there for years. two men who stood up for Black people in everything they did. there’s so much history in our homes and in our families. talk to your people and go through your cabinets, you never know what you may find! i’m so happy i did. by @hinadirah

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6 months ago