11 thoughts on “No Country for Old (Rap) Men: Why did the women of rap get sidelined?”

  2. I know it’s not CRC approved but Gangsta Boo of Three 6 fame was always a personal favorite female rapper of mine.

  3. As you say in your article, mainstream/commercially-oriented female rappers disadvantage themselves from the get go by starting from the premise of being “the female” shadow of whatever’s flavour of the month. Nobody’s ever said Kool Keith/Chuck D/Tech N9ne/whoever is “the male version of [insert female artist’s name].
    ”

    Too many female rappers fall into the same trap as White/non-US/LGBT/[insert non traditional “Hip Hop” demographic of choice] rappers. They try too hard to measure up to the norm that they become overly ernest, unwitting parodies.

    We can trot out the same ol same excuses about patriarchy and closed shops and privilege and intersectionality and bla bla bla but in this age of youtube/soundcloud/bandcamp/self publishing, there’s nothing stopping the cream of female rap rising to the top. Elephant in the room is, no female rapper/group has made a classic, era-defining album. Ask 100 people to name their 100 favourite/best rap albums and very few of them will name a single female-led album. That’s not because of misogyny or any sort of bias against women. It’s because classic albums by female rap acts don’t, as yet, exist.

    There are too many one hit/album female rap wonders. Very few female rappers have catalogues/careers. Again, in this post-industry, self-publishing era, there’s no excuse.
    Bahamadia, Apani B, Tiye Phoenix, Invincible, Macromantics and too many others to name have dropped decent debut albums but then fail to follow it up and deliver on their promise.

  6. To be fair to Yo Yo, it was only her debut “Make way for the motherlode” album that was (mostly) ghostwritten by Cube & Del. Her best album (“Black Pearl”) is almost entirely self-penned. The wheels came off however with her attempts to go all Gangsta with “Yo better ask somebody” and G-funk with her final two albums.

    Most prominent female rappers being sockpuppets for 2nd rate ghostwriters is a huge part of why the gender lack credibility in rap.

    I perceive a parallel between female rappers and female comediens. Whereas the latter see comedy as a means to jumpstarting their acting/presenting careers, it’s apparent many female rappers would much rather be singers or models or anything but rappers.

  7. I’ll be honest other than a few I’m not into female rappers (and I’m a woman lol). To me the best rappers are male. Even the female emcees that everybody loves (Lyte, Latifah, Lauryn) are kinda overrated to me. And the ones I’m into don’t put out that much material. And just like this article says female emcees need to stop trying to fit to appeal to men cuz most men don’t really check for female rappers. Imo most men feel they can’t relate to a woman. Also stop with this “I’m a woman hear me roar I’m repping for my ladies” stuff and just make good music. Rap will always be a male dominated genre but there’s room for females. And Dino said some real shit about this topic…

  8. If you’re a female and you got bars, I phux with you, bottom line. If all you got is T&A and a good budget, go that way…

  9. Latifah had a classic album, and a very credible follow-up, and even third album. Lyte was hot up until probably the end of her third album. Ice Cream Tee’s (Ice Cold Bettina) only offering was quite fresh, along with Miz on the cuts. Digga was always dope, but, recording success was fleeting until maybe her “Classic’ joint, which no one heard. I would suggest that you check for more rappers that happen to be female if you’re opinion is that there aren’t (m)any good ones.

  10. agree about everything in that article Robbie, i might add that i think many of the female MC’s had/have annoying voices, a bit screechy…which makes it hard for someone like me who’s fav rap voices is Brother J, Jeru, Rakim etc..to enjoy.
    Monie Love was good, and Boss had a solid album with “Deeper” as the highlight! Isis/Lin Que has some decent early stuff…

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