Dee Barnes, a pioneering hip-hop reporter and former host of the Fox music series Pump It Up!, says she’s homeless.
Barnes recently started a GoFundMe campaign as she faced eviction.
“Right now, I am officially homeless. My goal with the campaign is to regain stability, which is imperative for survivors of any trauma,” she told the website HipHopDX this week.
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As of Wednesday morning, the campaign had raised more than $16,000, surpassing her $5,000 goal.
“Standing in our own truth not the definitions or the expectations is powerful, and this is my TRUTH,” she wrote on the fundraising page. “I am in the process of being evicted. This page was created as an emergency fund to stop the process and the subsequent legal fees. Even though I am facing extreme financial hardship, I keep my head up. I know who I am, I know my worth and I know I’m not alone.”
Barnes has deep roots in the music industry. She was a member of the West Coast female rap duo Body & Soul, as well as an on-air personality at Los Angeles radio station KDAY before Pump It Up! launched in 1989.
She is credited as one of the first female hip-hop reporters in the country to host a national television show and interviewed everyone from Ice Cube, to Queen Latifah, to N.W.A.
In 1991, she was physically assaulted by Dr. Dre at a Hollywood record release party, Barnes said in an op-ed she wrote for Gawker.
At the time of the Attack, Dr. Dre was still a member of N.W.A. The rapper-producer attacked Barnes because he was unhappy about an interview she did on Pump It Up! The music journalist said he tried to throw her down a flight of stairs, slammed her head against a wall, kicked her, and stomped on her fingers.
The rapper-producer, real name Andre Young, was charged with assault and battery, and pleaded no contest. Barnes filed a civil suit against him and the two sides settled. Dr. Dre later apologized.
Barnes has said she continues to suffer migraines as a result of the attack.
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