Invincible

Spring 2009 Fellow
Detroit, MI

photo by: B-Fresh

Detroit based Hip-Hop artist and activist Invincible began penning lyrics at the age of nine, shortly after moving to the Midwest from the Middle East and learning English by memorizing her favorite songs. She has performed on stages in clubs, community centers, campuses, pride celebrations, and festivals around the world for over a decade, both as a solo artist, and featured as part of the all female Hip-Hop collective ANOMOLIES. She started her own label and media company EMERGENCE and released her critically acclaimed debut album ShapeShifters in 2008. Several media projects accompanied ShapeShifters, including two docu-music-videos about resistance to gentrification in Detroit and colonization in Palestine: "Locusts" and "People Not Places," which have been featured in many film festivals including Media That Matters and South By Southwest. Her lyrics are deeply rooted in social justice work, and reflected in a writing process that often involves community feedback and interviews with community members. Invincible has appeared on GritTV with Laura Flanders (Air America/Free Speech TV). She has performered at New York’s CMJ music festival, and for The Citizen Jane Film Festival at Stephens College alongside the legendary MC Lyte and others. Her upcoming project will illuminate the connections between complex science, social movements, and Hip-Hop.

Through her Fellowship, Invincible will explore whether and to what extent complex sciences can be applied to make social movements stronger and more effective, and investigate the possibilities that could emerge if complex sciences were applied to community organizing and cultural movements. Through Hip-Hop, media, and popular education, she will create resources that will make these ideas accessible to a wider range of people who can build upon and innovate these ideas through their everyday practice.

For additional information visit: www.emergencemedia.com


In June, Invincible served as a coordinator and artist mentor for the Detroit Summer Live Arts Media Project leadership intensive program. The program worked to facilitate Detroit youth leaders to create multimedia murals around the city. The project served as a bridge activity between the Allied Media Conference and the US Social Forum and brought together 20,000 activists, community organizers, artists, and media makers. Invincible was one of eighteen Detroit-based artists to receive a 2010 Kresge Fellowship for Literary and Performing Arts in June 2010.