Premiere: Watch Luna's new video, Femcee
Miami-D.C. based rapper Luna believes in community and womanhood on and off the court in her new music video “Femcee,” directed and edited by Sasja Smith.
The “Femcee” cast features all-femmes adorning bright pink and purple hued athletic wear on a sunny basketball court trimmed with palm trees. In the opening scene, Luna gives the team a run-down of what she’d like to see on the court, telling the women to leave “all that other shit off the court,” and “do what women do; get shit done.” The girls get to work in the following scenes, running through drills in asymmetrical shots intercut with Luna rapping to the camera.
“Femcee” is Luna’s self-identification as both a femme and an emcee. “It comes from me considering myself a femme, which I and others define as the modern/self-expressive version of a woman, as well as an MC, an OG term for a rapper,” says Luna. “I named the song that (and call myself that) because I feel like those are my two main identities as a human honestly. I’m most proud of these things and feel most happy actively being these identities so I felt like the song was a good prequel to my forthcoming EP, The Femme EP, and an introduction to me as a person and my life. I’m shouting out my engineer Chan, who is a woman! I’m talking about my battles with school, giving ancestral praise to my African roots, I’m talking about what I’d like to offer with my music that I see lacking elsewhere, all that.”
"Femcee is really important to me,” says Luna. “It’s my favorite rap song since Pam Grier. It’s the perfect amount of everything that encompasses the modern day woman—sweet but also not to be fucked with."
This video’s “sporty shorty” aesthetic playfully celebrates the everyday hustle of women and femmes of color, despite often having to compartmentalize the many intersections of their lives. “Whatever nigga, stupid job you have or midterm, leave it all there cause right now I need you here,” Luna says to the girls. These are just a few pressures where women constantly have to put aside their own feelings in order to create output for others. The court creates a safe space for these ladies to put their real-world burdens aside and celebrate community.
"This song is for the gyorls,” says Luna. “I want women to see this video and feel inspired to get what they want out of life. I want men to see this video and respect what women are capable of doing for themselves independently. This video is all about women empowerment but it differs from my other videos because it’s not a little group flex, it’s about manifesting the reality you want to see by in the work and doing it united, which is the biggest flex."