Sisters in the Name of Rap

The image here is of an old VHS cassette in my collection -- and what strikes me, after blowing the dust off, is how few of these names, after the first three or four, are likely to be remembered today. And to that list, one could add other names: Shazzy, May May Ali, The Cookie Crew, Mercedes Ladies, Sha Rock, Isis, Queen Mother Rage, MC Choice, Antoinette, Monie Love, Heather B, Nikki D, Ms. Melodie, Bo$$, BWP (Bytches wit Problems), and Sister Souljah, whose fifteen minutes of hip-hop fame in 1992 have long since been forgotten, and who has gone on to establish a successful career as a novelist. All in all, my own collection includes 42 solo albums by different women Hip-hop artists, and it's very far from complete.

Point being, that there has never been a shortage of women MC's, just a memory deficit when it comes to recalling them. Many fell victim to poor promotion or the "sophomore curse" in the 1990's; others were lost when labels were sold or went out of business. In many ways, Queen Latifah has been the most successful of them all; in addition to her own five Hip-hop albums, she was for a time the CEO of her own within-the-label label, Flavor Unit Records. More importantly, since then, her career as an actress and singer has brought her sustained success.

In artistic terms, it's true, as with men, that there are a few rappers of questionable talent on the list, but there are also some of the all-time greats. Roxanne Shanté, to my mind, is the greatest female MC of all time, with nonstop deadly rhymes and an attitude that never wavered, she rode the "Roxanne" craze to fame and left at the top of her game with The Bitch is Back in 1992. Close behind would be MC Lyte, whose seven albums from 1988 to 2003 span the period from old-schooly beats to gangsta ruffneck and beyond. Salt 'n' Pepa, along with their DJ Spinderella, made a definite mark upon Hip-hop and the culture at large with tracks ranging from "Tramp" to "Let's Talk About Sex." Special mention goes out to MC Choice, whose takedown of NWA and Too $hort, "The Big Payback," has to be one of the hardest-hitting diss tracks of all time; May May Ali, Muhammed Ali's daughter, who managed a rough-and-tough CD without single cuss word; and Yo Yo, whose distinctive raspy voice blazed along for a few years in the 1990's, giving better than she got on tracks such as Ice Cube's "It's a Man's World" -- amazingly, her very first studio track.

In recent years, some new talent have arisen to command attention around the globe, particularly Lady Sorevereign, who to my mind has few peers. And there are many more in the wings, or waiting: keep your ears out for Ladybug Mecca, Rah Digga, MC Trey, Yo Majesty, Ms. Dynamite, Estelle, Baby Blue ... the list goes on. Any new candidates?