From Lyte As A Rock To Barbies: The Evolution Of The Female Emcee

mr-e-female-rappers9From Lyte As A Rock To Barbies: The Evolution Of The Female Emcee

By. Samantha O’Connor

Women that stood for unity like Queen Latifah. Women that tackled tough subjects like AIDS and sexism, such as Salt-n-Peppa and Yo-Yo. Women that embodied strength like Roxanne Shante and Rah Digga. Women that pushed to new levels of creativity like Lisa Left Eye Lopez and Missy Elliott. Women with soul like MC Lyte and Lauryn Hill. Where are these types of women now?
 
Replaced with two botoxed, nipped, tucked and injected Queens of the mic; a Feisty rapper who uses social media as her platform for attack rather than spreading positivity and a token white woman with a big booty. Our leading ladies of hip-hop, ladies and gentlemen.

The femcee is a breed of its own, and like every other species, has evolved over time, fighting for survival in, this case, a male dominated industry. But struggle for rap equality has become even more unbalanced now that the female emcees have traded in their authenticity and originality voluntarily, for butt implants and a twerk video. The female spitters, like the majority of women in show business, have become hyper-sexualized creatures who have been packaged and sold in bulk, cashing in their integrity for a smash hit. Aesthetically, they are the quintessential video girl, only with a microphone in their manicured hand.

I have many independent female emcee friends. Every single one of them have vocalized their distaste for the term “femcee,” aggravated that their sex has anything to do with raw talent as they continuously trying to prove that they are equal to (and in some cases, better than) their male peers. But in order to protect their rare spot on the charts as a female rapper, the industry turns them on each other, woman vs woman, before they even get a chance to prove their invaluableness.

No matter how many female spitters that have come before them, it seems that a raw lady rapper will always be considered a token and will always have two options – fight for their identity and make it half as far or sell out to become a marketable package, talent not included. What do men like? Women and competition and that’s exactly what the female emcee delivers. But don’t forget, the ladies have held it down from the beginning. All the way back in the late ‘70s, when the Mercedes Ladies popped up as the first female hip-hop group, to Sha-Rock of the Funky Four who held her own against her male counterparts to MC Lyte, who opened the door for every other spitting sister as the first solo female rapper to release an album. These were strong, independent women. Real emcees.

Fast forward, a few decades and enter the infamous Lil’ Kim, the woman most-often held responsible for the change in dynamic with her raunchy lyrics and hard-core presence. But look what she has done to herself, barely recognizable to the Queen Bee that once relished in her own supremacy due to her plastic surgery obsession. It pains me to even look at her man-sculpted frame and face. Of course, Ms. Minaj took over where Kim left off, swarming the charts with her army of Barbies, flaunting faux parts, faux wigs and a faux personality.

But I don’t blame rap. This says more about the current state of femininity and women-hood than it does about hip-hop. It is easy to blame the culture for the influx of commodification than it is to target the truth that this seems to be what people want and the rappers themselves don’t seem to mind.

Now, with ample amounts of new female talent on the up and up such as Rhapsody, Snow The Product and Angel Haze, is there room for more than one Queen of the rap castle? Artists like Santigold and MIA found refuge in other markets, but are there multiple spaces ready in hip-hop for females?

In order to help push multiple female artists and allow for the disintegration of the “this industry isn’t big enough for the both of us” mentality, there has to be a desire for more female voices. Real female voices, beyond the bad b*tch and Louboutin bars. Hip-hop needs strong ladies willing to fight through sexist industry pressures to stand firm in their accurate female representation.

Accept and support authenticity and value talent. It’s time to trade commodification back for culture. Ladies, remember, you’re butt isn’t hip-hop, your nails aren’t hip-hop, your cloth that you call an outfit is not hip-hop, so what are you really doing for the culture? Pick up your mic and spit.

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