Jeny breaking at The Foundry in Providence
Jeny was one of the members of Return To Burn's second generation in the 90s. As a B-Girl, she taught classes at The Carriage House, represented RTB at various events and competitions, and photographed a lot of her surroundings. She currently has a photography studio on the South Side, and much of the photos on our homepage are her's.
Listen to Jeny’s story.
Follow our interview notes to go explore her story more deeply.
Hip hop culture, dancing, music [0:00]
- Classes at the Carriage House
- Learned about history and first generation of RI hip hop pioneers
- Mark, Paris Fisher, Eddie Ed
Used hip hop to spread anti-tobacco message [1:29]
Parents’ view of hip hop [1:48]
- Mexican immigrants
- Culture and generational gap
- Seen as good thing; kept her out of trouble
- US had so many different types of people
Hip hop inspired Jeny to become more interested in studying Mexican culture and history [3:09]
Jeny’s style [4:08]
- Footwork
- Tomboyish, Puma with a lot of hot pink
- Used to buy shoes at Geller’s
Photography [5:18]
- Liked taking pictures of friends, documenting how people grow over time
- Environment, neighborhood, murals
- Graffiti and graffiti artists working
Pulls out and describes a camera lightbox graffiti artist Vase 1 painted for her [7:18]
- Painted mural in son’s room
Graffiti artist June (spelling) [7:50]
Women in hip hop [8:17]
- Women might be intimidated by masculine nature of hip hop
- Doesn’t see too many women burying grudges or competition to work together
- Not enough representation
- “A guy thing”
Did you try to pursue hip hop past high school? [10:16]
- Became a mom at 22, took a different direction
Views on current hip hop [10:38]
- Conscious vs. Trap
Benefits of being close to NYC and Boston [11:37]
- Went to Zulu Nation and Rock Steady events in NYC (ZuluNation.com, YouTube)
- Saw all different styles of people
- KRS-One (Wikipedia)
- Talib Kweli
Videos and pictures of events [12:40]
- People come to her and ask for images she took in the 90s
- Likes to be a resource for community
Talks about photo of herself on our homepage [13:54]
- The Foundry, RZA from Wu Tang was there (foundryri.com, Wikipedia)
Regionalism of Rhode Island [14:38]
