Sophie Dor

I was born and raised in Maryland by two immigrant parents from Haiti. I am the youngest of two and come from a very big family. Growing up music has always been present in my life. My parents constantly played Haitian music and the little American music they knew such as Notorious BIG, Aaliyah, Tupac, and Micheal Jackson. My biggest inspiration for my love for hip hop came from my older brother. He constantly watched BET's 106&Park and always played hip hop on the house's stereo system. Seeing how hip hop brought people together and the different ways it was being re-imagined and evolving inspired me to consume it more and to learn more about it. In high school, I pursued photography and also incorporated African American culture in my work and was inspired by many hip hop photographers such as Chi Modu, Eric Johnson, and Renell Medrano.

 

After watching the series "Hip Hop Evolution" on Netflix, I knew I wanted to introduce hip hop into my career choice. The film opened my eyes to the different avenues of hip hip and how rich and deep the history is. It also taught me a lot about being African American and how important that is as well. Our influence on the culture is strong and it is something that people need to know more about. Sometimes the true meaning of hip hop can be lost in the many different things it offers but I aspire to show people how deep African American culture is in hip hop and the true original meaning of the genre. 

 

After viewing the film, I created my Instagram dedicated to hip hop and named after the Erykah Badu song Love of my Life (An Ode to Hip Hop). Anodetohiphop is where I post photos, my vinyl collection, and other content related to my radio show. My radio show is where I'm able to share my passion for hip hop and the different avenues of the genre.