Maddy “MADlines” Clifford is a rapper, writer & teaching artist. She’s collaborated with Xiomara, Ryan Nicole & Zion I and was recently nominated for a GRAMMY for her feature on Alphabet Rockers’ album, “The Love.” Maddy has also spent the past ten years teaching poetry within detention centers, on college campuses, and even as far away as Uganda. She has written for KQED and 48 Hills and will soon serve as a hip hop diplomat to Ukraine as a participant in Next Level, USA.
"God Talk feat. Xiomara" is a song, music video and community event that centered Black women's radical imaginations, particularly within Hip-Hop music and culture. Using Octavia Butler's novel "Parable of the Sower" as inspiration, rapper MADlines reflects on "God as Change," embracing all the ways she must transform in order to channel her higher self. With incredible vocal stylings by Oakland native, Xiomara, the song demands that Black women are treated with the real respect and dignity they deserve, especially at a time when they must navigate interlocking forms of oppression based on gender, sexuality and race. The video was shot in East Oakland by Emmy-nominated director, Contessa Gayles. Gayles is also known for her CNN documentary, "The Feminist on Cellblock Y."
