A beginner’s guide to women in hip hop – Music Reads

From Queen Latifah to BARKAA, listed below are among the feminine rappers who’ve introduced their very own flavour to a male dominated scene

After I was rising up, I gravitated in direction of the feminine voices in hip hop.

My relatively giant CD assortment together with heavy hitters like Queen Latifah, Da Brat, Nikki D, MC Lyte, Lil’ Kim, Cunning Brown, Salt-N-Pepa, The Woman of Rage, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, Mia X, Yo Yo, Suga T and Lauryn Hill to call some.

Every introduced their very own flavour to a male dominated scene.

As an appetiser to this week’s The J Information, this is your newbie’s information to ladies in hip hop that includes among the rappers who led the best way and the feminine vocalists reigning supreme in 2022.

Hear the Girls In Hip Hop J Information above

The Pioneers

While you have a look at hip hop pioneers, you have to recognise the ladies who modified the sport up and stood their floor in a scene typically solid as being misogynistic.

Let’s zero in on among the legends of the sport.

Queen Latifah

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Born Dana Owens in Newark, New Jersey, Queen Latifah discovered success as a rapper within the late Nineteen Eighties and helped redefine a historically male style.

Latifah’s debut album All Hail the Queen was reviewed positively by critics and attracted consideration from a large viewers. It was launched in 1989, a yr after her first single ‘Wrath of My Insanity’.

However her second album, launched in 1991, Nature of a Sista did not do as nicely, together with her file firm Tommy Boy selecting to not re-sign her.

Picked up by Motown information, Latifah launched Black Reign in 1993 which was a crucial and business success.

The standout music on Black Reign was ‘U.N.I.T.Y.’, wherein she asks ‘Who you callin’ a b****?’, talking out in opposition to sexism and violence in opposition to ladies.

The music is a jam steeped in feminism.

Motion pictures and TV would comply with for the Grammy Award winner, together with Latifah’s personal daytime speak present.

Salt-N-Pepa

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Salt-N-Pepa – the dynamic group made up of Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and DJ Spinderella (actual identify Deidra Roper) had an infinite quantity of success from their formation in New York Metropolis within the mid-Nineteen Eighties and all through the Nineteen Nineties.

The group have reportedly bought greater than 15 million albums worldwide. They gained their first Grammy the identical yr as Queen Latifah – the primary feminine rap acts to take action.

Singles equivalent to ‘Push It’, ‘Let’s Speak About Intercourse’, ‘Shoop’ and ‘Whatta Man’ that includes En Vogue shot up the charts – the group usually that includes on Rage and different music video countdown reveals.

In 2019, Spinderella took to Instagram to announce she had been “terminated” from Salt-N-Pepa, and the official web site for Salt-N-Pepa now casts them as a duo.

Lil’ Kim

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Overtly sexual and unapologetically Exhausting Core – which additionally occurs to be the title of her debut album – Lil’ Kim burst onto the scene as a solo artist when that album dropped in 1996, after introducing herself to the world by way of Junior M.A.F.I.A’s 1995 album Conspiracy.

Lil’ Kim tells it as it’s. No filter, no chill. Her lyrics, which regularly explicitly element her sexual liaisons, embrace the most effective opening strains in music.

‘I was petrified of the d**ok / Now I throw lips to the shit / Deal with it like an actual b****’ she raps on ‘Large Momma Thang’ that includes JAY-Z and Lil’ Stop.

Whereas Beyonce would possibly seek advice from herself now as Queen Bey, Lil’ Kim is the unique Queen Bee.

Her memoir wherein she guarantees to disclose all was supposed to return out in November 2021.

“You thought you knew me however you don’t have any concept,” she posted on Fb when asserting the discharge date. However the e book didn’t drop in 2021, and appears to have been pushed back to March 2024.

Guess we’ll have to attend a bit longer to get the nitty gritty on one among hip hop’s best.

Femcees to observe

Since MC Lyte turned the primary feminine rapper to launch her personal full-length album, Lyte As A Rock, in 1988, there have been so many ladies each right here and overseas who’ve efficiently picked up a mic.

There are various feminine emcees to keep watch over regionally together with Chloe Dmnd from Canberra and Sydney’s ARMANI – a few rising artists who’re anticipated to explode.

However let’s check out some native expertise already making a splash, and who’ve all dropped tracks this yr.

BARKAA

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An brisk stay performer who may hype any crowd, BARKAA is a Malyangapa, Barkindji girl from Western New South Wales, who now lives in South West Sydney on Gandangara land.

Her debut single ‘For My Tittas’ put her on the map in 2020.

BARKAA’s music is very often socially aware, highlighting among the points going through First Nations individuals.

She addresses Black deaths in custody on the tracks ‘Our Lives Matter’ and ‘I Cannot Breathe’ with DOBBY, which has been used to coach youngsters in colleges throughout Australia.

Born Chloe Quayle, BARKAA raps about battling motherhood, a drug dependancy, and bouncing out and in of jail on her monitor ‘Struggle For Me’ previous to turning her life round and establishing herself as the brand new queen of First Nations rap.

Hold an in depth eye on BARKAA. Positively an emcee to observe.

Tkay Maidza

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When Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and rapper Tkay Maidza gained her first ARIA for Finest Soul/R&B Launch for her 2021 album Final Yr Was Bizarre, Vol. 3., she was grateful to be recognised by her friends.

The album was the third launch in her EP trilogy, the primary got here out in 2018. However Tkay has been releasing music since dropping her debut single ‘Brontosaurus’ in 2013.

The recording artist has headlined bought out reveals in New York Metropolis and Los Angeles whereas hitting the US competition circuit performing alongside artists equivalent to Charli XCX, SZA and Doja Cat. She’s even opened up for Billie Eilish on her most up-to-date world tour.

The previous few years may need been bizarre for Tkay Maidza, however they’ve additionally been superb to her.

Kween G

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Kween G is all about her neighborhood.

The Sydney-based Ugandan rapper began her profession as a part of the hip hop outfit KillaQueenz.

Her music is aware – she’s all about elevating marginalised communities and selling inclusion.

Her tunes are additionally as genuine as she is, together with her newest album and title monitor known as Wise Insurgent.

“I say smart as a result of… I present respect,” she mentioned on a YouTube video selling the album.

“I include love. I include peace. I include honour. I include understanding. However insurgent on the similar time as a result of… I am right here to defend justice… and I believe with that there is obtained to be a component of insurrection in it.

Kween G is adept at taking severe subjects and enlightening others by means of leisure.

The only ‘One thing in Your Eyes’ from Wise Insurgent is about figuring out when somebody has been affected by trauma.

That is one emcee who desires to convey others up together with her on her upward trajectory.

Be taught extra in regards to the largest artists and actions in music in The J Files