Will The Real FemCee’s Please Stand Up?

DaBrat

I was recently listening to Nicki Minaj the other day when it hit me, “Where are all the Female MC’s?” It’s like the only ones you hear are Minaj, Khia, and…who? I know Hip-Hop has always been a male dominated industry, but there was always room for the female MC. Now it seems like there is no place for the female MC in the game. The female has always had a place in Hip-Hop. If you were a crew, you had to have a female. Roxanne was associated with the Juice Crew, Queen Latifah and Monie Love were part of the Native Tongue crew, Mrs. Melody was associated with BDP, to more present year acts like Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Eve, and even Trina. But now all it seems the only roles females are used for in Hip-Hop is EYE CANDY. Sad, I know.

Where did it all go wrong? Do we lay the blame on Lil’ Kim and Foxy for their raunchy lyrics that doomed all other females behind them? Because of them, artists that don’t push SEX aren’t even listened to by the mainstream listeners. You have some talented FemCee’s out there that don’t get any recognition because they aren’t sexy or even rap about their sexual exploits. Is that fair to them? I am guilty of not giving certain FemCee’s a chance because of their looks, but I think that is part of the brainwashing that Hip-Hop has underwent.

Going back to the place of FemCee’s, where would you put them? Since Hip-Hop is being dominated by the streets and thuggery, can a female rap about that and be believable? Or is it more of the same and they have to stick with the SEXY rhymes for them to be heard? I feel bad for the legitimate FemCee’s out there that want their music heard, but all we get is every chick wants to be a “Black Barbie”. Will the real FemCee’s please stand up? The game is missing you right now, and some positive “Ladies First” type songs might help out some of these younger girls that big rims, expensive clothes, and orgies are not the way to go.

The People's Champ/Founder
  1. I feel you, but there are Female Emcees out there. Just have to
    search for them. Prime example: Invincible. She’s one of the best
    female emcees in the game, but only underground heads really know about her. Also you have Jean Grae, Empress, Vixion, Bahamadia, Mecca the Ladybug (she’s on tour now), MC Lyte (who’s still doing it), and Lauryn Hill’s crazy ass.

    It’s ALOT of female emcees. they just aren’t on MTV, BET, or whatever other bullshit the mainstream pays attention to.

  2. It’s gone take a woman equivalent of Lauren Hill or a female version of Pac 2 push the real female rappers back 2 the fore front of Hip-Hop.

  3. I think any rapper’s success (male/female) or mainstream appeal is gonna be dictated by what women think. Women in general don’t look for much out of hip-hop other than a danceable beat and lyrics about them being tricked on, eaten out or being a pyt or something. At best, I think all women want to get out of a female emcee is an image to copy. I think that’s why Kim & Foxy blew up the way they did. Lauryn didn’t really blow off of her emceeing, it was her singing mostly. Dudes knew that her and Bahamadia were sick with it lyrically though. Latifah didn’t really blow off of her emceeing either. She had to do the Hollywood thing. I just think chicks ain’t really into lyricism or depth really. Think about it…Common ain’t been stellar for a while now, but he is more popular than ever because he now appeals to chicks. I don’t know women that know lyrics off Soul By The Pound or Resurrection. He started making chick songs and doing movies and shit and now chicks like the brother. Yea but back to female emceeing…the Trinas, Foxys, Kims, etc. talked about having all the things that women want (money, materials & sucka ass niggas). I think Shawnna is a phenomenal mainstream ‘affiliated’ female emcee, but chicks didn’t embrace her because they don’t wanna look like her and I don’t think DTP put her out there to be a major player. I just kinda feel like collectively…the female purchasing public just goes for the cheap thrills. They buy more records than dudes and they just don’t support female rappers. But think about it tho…ask a chick about Sojourner Truth, Barbara Jordan, Maxine Waters, Shirley Chisolm, etc. and they can’t tell you shit. They can tell you all you ever wanted to know about Beyonce, Madame CJ Walked, The Real Housewives of ATL, etc. The Jean Greys, Eternias, Tiye Phoenixes, etc ain’t selling a dream…they are selling empowerment and that’s not the general interest of female hip hop fans. Whatever chicks aint choosing aint selling.

  4. Jean Grae guys? I mean, she’s probably my favorite femcee to date. Although I haven’t yet downloaded some of her good material (Jeanius, etc) I’m giving it some good consideration to take some space on the computer.

  5. @ 937andheartbreak
    Naw she’s actually not. The only reason worth watching that cypher featuring her was for Joe Budden. She along with Buckshot and Crown Royyal were disappointing for the most part. Lyrically, Nicki Minaj is not impressive at all (let’s stop bullshitting with that, please!). The fact that she uses that “robotic” flow/accent when she raps just takes the listener’s focus off the lyrics and that she’s really not saying anything worth listening to. At the most, she pretty much for the new generation what Lil Kim and Foxy Brown were to the 90’s (minus the lyricism). She’s just eye candy as most can attest that they pay attention to her more for her looks than her lyrics. Like Kim had Biggie, Foxy had Jay, Nicki has Wayne… it’s all a cycle (just like pretty much everything else in Hip-Hop music).

    @ Jeff
    I agree with a lot of what you said in that the reason why female emcees are recognized more and accepted nowadays is because the majority buying audience of Hip-Hop/Rap music is females. Very true that females would rather listen to the common themes like money, partying, sex, etc. instead of themes of empowerment, self-awareness, etc. That’s just a given fact as it is seen with male rappers on the commercial/mainstream sign. In that case the question of female emcees can be made for male emcees as well. In all honestly I don’t think things in that regard are going to change any time soon. The music industry is too focused on money and those artists that are able to bring it in as big companies are pretty much running and controlling the decisions and motives of record labels. It would take a global change to the whole Hip-Hop/Rap genre to really see a return of both female and male emcees to the main stage like how it was in the 90’s. Looking back at it now, it’s kind of a shame how Hip-Hop/Rap music was taken for granted in the 90’s (kind of like it was figured to be that way forever and would never change) with the amount of classic albums constantly being released then opposed to a lot of the music dominating the genre now.

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