VERBALISMS Magazine

Where My Ladies At? For once, DJ Assault asked an intelligent question. Where are the ladies? I mean in the hip-hop world? I don’t know how many of you can remember back to Hot, Cool, and Vicious but I can. Salt-n-Pepa caused a hell of a ruckus in 86/87 with their single “Push It”, and managed to break down a LOT of barriers. At that time hip-hop was a male dominated arena, even stars like Roxanne Shante had male DJ’s. Salt-n-Pepa had a female DJ. I still remember the line “Spindarella’s not a fella but a girl DJ.” (Don’t ask me what I learned in class last semester, please.) After Salt-n-Pepa, there came a slew of female rappers that I grew up with and loved; Monie Love, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, all females who did some amazing things in hip-hop. Since then, it seems the bottom has dropped out.

In the mid 90’s hip-hop took a different turn. The Black to Africa, Black Awareness, and Self-Knowledge/Respect movements had disappeared and suddenly you had Lady of Rage, Da Brat, Suga T, and Mia X, all very powerful women, all following on the heels of males in the “Gangsta Rap” revolution. Most weren’t given a lot of opportunity to stretch their creative limbs and their albums floundered for a few weeks then, ultimately, died on the shelf. Brat was one of the lucky few that made it out unscathed and continues in her popularity.

The late 90’s and early 2000 saw the emergence of Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Eve and Missy Elliot. All of whom have talent, though I give many props to Missy for being a little off center and Eve simply because her voice delivers an excellent flow (even if the lyrics are bad). But few of these ladies have half the respect quotient of female rappers of the past.

It seems like more and more these days; women are taking on much different roles in hip-hop. Many times if you hear a female voice she’s a vocalist singing the hook, not to say that’s a bad thing, hell Jill Scott tore up that Roots song (the original before they dubbed over her with Erykah), or they are spoken word artists adding a special touch to the track. Rare is it found anymore that there are female lyricists getting in the spotlight. Not to say there are no female lyricists around anymore, but it’s almost like their ability to hold their own on stage and in studio is greatly underestimated by the general hip hop listening public. Which leads me back to my original question: Where my ladies at? Honestly I’ve heard females battle and tear some guys a new one, but it seems no one wants to take them under their wing and hone that sweet talent into something greater. Are men afraid to be shown up by a female, or is it that in such a male dominated arena it’s simply too hard for a female to be taken seriously in the industry (no thanks to Lil Kim and Foxy for their sex kitten portrayal of female lyricists)?

That’s why, here and now, I pose a challenge to all male lyricists and groups (or at least all the ones who happen to read this), if you find a female lyricist with talent that would make Russell Simmons cream his Phat Farms, or at least make him pay attention for a while, pick her up and let her do her thing on stage and in the studio. Test her mettle-and yours-and see if you can’t get a reaction from the crowd. What’s the worst that could happen? Really?

by Iman Saadiqa Abdul-Majid
Originally published in VERBALISMS Magazine October 2002