NEWS
EVENTS
Ladies in Hip Hop
RnB/Hip Hop | Tuesday 17th September 2013 | Tia
Ladies in Hip-Hop
The Hip-Hop scene has been dominated my male rappers, but despite what you hear or see on the surface, the game is filled with legendary female rappers too. If you’re wondering “where are all the female MC’s at?” then you’re not looking.
In a world that consistently undervalues women, women in Hip Hop offer an alternative that exposes the other side of what men have been preaching for years. Women also bare the sorrows of life and like men, or even better at times they too have a story to tell. They represent for the female population. Their art and politics challenge the traditional view of women as submissive creatures and truly contribute to the Hip Hop movement. Let us refresh our memory and celebrate the female influence on Hip-Hop Culture.
Salt-N-Peppa’s Very Necessary was one of my earliest introductions to female vocalists, let alone Hip-Hop. These ladies were the first to teach girls to be brazen and independent. “Whatta Man” featuring En Vogue is an anthem, not only is it a rich ballad that peaked at no 3 on the Bill Board 100 but also no 7 in the UK top 40 but it ultimately reinforces mutual respect for women.
Missy Elliot is another fierce lady, she has experienced hard times throughout her life including her child hood and recently publicized health issues, yet, she proves to be a warrior. She is a multi-award winning artist that has consistently turned out hip hop bangers, nothing timid. Who can resist “The Rain” (Supa Dupa Fly), “Work It” (Under Construction) “Pass That Ducth” (This Is Not A Test!) and my ultimate favourite “Get your Freak on” (Miss E… So Addictive. Evidently, Missy gave us something we never heard or seen of before, her creativity was beyond music as even her videos were dope, can we take a moment just to remember when she sang in a blown up trash bag in “Rain”, she took us on a visual journey like no other artist could. Missy’s craft extended to producing, working with other female artists like the late great Aaliyah.
Lauryn Hill is a lyrical genius, she is beautiful and has creative ability that translates her story. What she achieved with the Fugees is impressive, but her ground breaking solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill won her a Grammy which was almost unheard of for female artist to achieve. It’s been long overdue since then, but if she released a mix tape today, Miss Hill would wipe out artists that claim they have lyrical talent. She doesn’t over compensate her rhyming ability to promote her music on a hypersexual image. Her songs aren’t raunchy which suggests artist maturity; she was able to communicate her views in a convincing fashion. Her music was both entertaining and heart felt, “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and “Killing me Softly” proved that Hip-Hop can make our heads bop without sacrificing talent for commercial interest. It’s hard to match any rapper that has had a positive impact on young girls like Lauryn Hill’s presence has had on urban female culture. Her earthy style continues to inspire future generations.
MC Lyte was one of the first female rappers to address the on-going issues of sexism in Hip Hop and often took on the subject lyrically in her music paving the way for likeminded female rappers such as Missy Elliot and Queen Latifah. MC Lyte began rapping at the age of 12 and wrote “I Cram to Understand You” which lead to a recording contract. Her career went from strength to strength and rightfully so because she persistently encouraged female a positive lifestyle through her lyrics like “Cappacino” which is an anti-violence track. Her collaboration with Xscape on the Soul Train award winning “Keep on Keepin’ on” is just another way of her showing that women should empower one another. Despite her music career, like Missy Elliot, MC Lyte is a woman of many talents who has dipped into other art forms such as acting as she appeared on Moesha, but she also is a humanitarian participating in social projects such as anti-violence campaigns, Rock the Vote and AIDs Benefit. She is a testament that Hip-Hop is a cultural movement that tries to make a difference.
The reason why Queen Latifah is mention here is because she is a woman who demanded respect. Her early material wasn’t so great but in the early 90s she turned it up with “Latifah’s had it up to here” and “U.N.I.T.Y” and her work with Naughty by Nature and Flava Unit. Her material that followed didn’t quite match the brazen attitude she teased us with these hard hitting tracks, but she made sure people knew what Queen Latifah was all about.
Despite Roxxane Shante’s short lived career which ended at the age of just 25, she demonstrated exactly what it took to be a ground breaking artist that came and gone like the wind. Her music is was sharp selling 250,000 in her own turf in New York alone. Shante gave us two albums Bad Sister and The Bitch is Back and she gave us her best, so maybe retiring in her prime wasn’t such a bad idea because the Hip Hop community can remember Shante as a fierce rapper who didn’t want to live on the charts but live off her success to embark on other things such as graduating with a Psychology degree, talent and brains.
Before Foxy Brown released ever released an album, she was demonstrating her slick rhythms on LL Cool J’s “I Shot Ya” and Jay Z’s “Aint No Nigga”; pretty self-explanatory, those tracks lacked something that only Foxy could bring and neither would be the same without her. She brought a new flavour to the game and instead of resisting the hyper sexual image of women, she embraced sexuality and proved that it shouldn’t be a taboo for women.
