A Hip-Hop Visionary Reflects on 20 Years and What’s Next
After two decades of building space for women in hip-hop, Michele Byrd-McPhee reflects on success, uncertainty, and shaping the next chapter.
Written by Cara Hagan
Edited by Dessane Lopez Cassell
Michele Byrd-McPhee speaks with the kind of candid perspective befitting someone with a lifetime of experience behind her. During a Zoom conversation in December, she recounts the highs of achieving milestones many dream of, and the uncertainty many artists face after. She also speaks about gaining perspective through lessons learned along her journey, being able to look back and see the arc of that journey, and what excites her for the future.
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Image: Michele Byrd-McPhee. Credit: Lloyd Bishop.
A self-described “cultural entrepreneur,” who uses dance to “preserve, innovate, and expand cultural narratives,” Byrd-McPhee has been at the forefront of the hip-hop scene for over two decades with her non-profit, Ladies of Hip-Hop. The organization has been a training ground for women and girls, a platform for an international hip-hop festival that brings together dancers, DJs, emcees, and graffiti artists, and a launching pad for her company, the Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective (LDC). A vision first imagined by Byrd-McPhee as a young dancer in the 1990s, Ladies of Hip-Hop responded (and still responds) to the realities of a male-dominated field where women’s voices are often drowned out.
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Image: Michele Byrd-McPhee. Credit: Courtesy of the artist.
In recollection, Byrd-McPhee describes celebrating 20 years of Ladies of Hip-Hop in 2024, “It was this ginormous thing that had every human being on earth that I love there, every woman that I respect and admire in one place.” For Byrd-McPhee, 20 years was a goal that kept her and the organization going; it gave her purpose. “We’ve just got to make it to 20 years,” she mused. “I used to say that every year. As long as I had that goal in mind…[I] never questioned anything about what my work was.” However, the void she felt after that celebration was profound. “I didn’t have anything to anchor myself to anymore…I think I thought I would feel super accomplished and I just felt very lost.”
In recent years, Byrd-McPhee has begun to receive increased recognition for her tireless and groundbreaking work. In 2020, she began her journey with the performing arts nonprofit Works & Process, which yielded the Black Dancing Bodies Project. It was further developed through a residency at the Center for Ballet and Dance Arts in 2024/2025. In 2023 she was featured in a permanent mural called “Know the Elements: An Ode to Hip-Hop,” by artists Christian “TAME ARTZ” Rodriguez and Bill Strobel, commemorating Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary in Philly, Byrd-McPhee’s hometown. That same year, Byrd-McPhee was honored with a Bessie Award for service to the field. She’s grateful. Still, she says up until recently, she’s continued to feel lost. It’s a paradoxical thing that happens to many artists. After years of work, one finally receives the recognition they’ve sought, only to wonder what comes next.
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Image: Michele Byrd-McPhee featured in mural, “Know the Elements An Ode to Hip Hop” in Philadelphia by artists Christian TAMEARTZ Rodriguez and Bill Strobel. Credit: Anthony Seper Torcasio.
This past year, Byrd-McPhee has been taking stock of what’s behind her. In her assessment, she’s realized there are aspects of her work she now re-examines. For example, Byrd-McPhee considers herself a connector and community-builder; someone who is generous with her time, energy and resources. In retrospect, she found that in some cases, her generosity was being taken advantage of. She’s now learning to ask for more in return for her connecting work. She’s also learned about professional boundaries within the Collective, and who her core team is. “It was a lot of shedding things that didn’t serve me and didn’t serve my mission, vision, and purpose and life, and knowing that that was okay.”
Now, Byrd-McPhee says she’s “excited about the festival again.” And she’s got her sights set on the next phase of her career. “I feel like I’m a lot more in control.” Byrd-McPhee is thinking about how she wants to continue to influence Hip-Hop. She’s mentoring young people through her job as an assistant professor at UMass Amherst, as well as through her connections across the field. She’s attending to the logistical aspects of the work for others as well. “I’m doing some project management for projects that are coming up in Works & Process. I’m going in as a company manager or a people mover and helping with all the things that I think that we get tripped up on as Hip-Hop companies and being an asset to my community in that way.”
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Image: Michele Byrd-McPhee. Credit: Mark Mann.
Byrd-McPhee is also hard at work creating a new, supportive space for artists. “I just bought a second property around the corner from me…[it’s] going to be an Airbnb that I am blocking out certain weeks to have artists’ planning retreats that could involve things like mentorship or whatever they want to do during that time. I’m just really in this place of trying to think of alternative ways of doing what we do.”
In all, Byrd-McPhee feels like her journey, both the good and challenging parts, have given her insight she is eager to share with the field as it continues to evolve. “It’s a great place to be. It’s both terrifying and fulfilling.”
