School of Music Visiting Artist
MEDUSA, aka The Gangsta Goddess, and The High Priestess of Hip Hop, is widely acknowledged as a legend of the LA Underground Hip Hop scene.
Beginning as a pop-locker with the Groove-Atrons, she won “Best Female Dancer” in the 1st Hip Hop Dance Awards at The Palladium. She honed her skills as an MC in the Good Life Café and Leimert Park’s “Project Blowed” Workshop, alongside Freestyle Fellowship, Black Eye Peas, Macy Grey, and Xzibit. With S.I.N., her song Power of the P is regarded as a West Coast Hip Hop classic.
The LA Weekly voted MEDUSA “BEST HIP-HOP ARTIST” for two years in a row; she also received a Grammy for her performance with the band Ozomatli.
She wrote, produced and directed My Momma Raised a G for the HBO film Stranger Inside in which she played the role of Leisha. Her other film and screen credits include Life is a Traffic Jam, featuring the late Tupac Shakur, and the sitcom Moesha where she played Lady Lunatic.
MEDUSA is also a motivational speaker, being asked to give her knowledge and opinion at colleges and seminars on the effect of hip-hop on children and women, in relations to culture and life, MEDUSA has spoken the 26th Annual Black Conscious Conference and at UCLA for the African American Music Festival.