User:TMcduffie1990/The History of Women in Hip Hop

Women in Hip Hop
Women in Hip Hop
Origin	South Bronx
Genres	Hip Hop
Years active	1970s–present
Website	www.hiphoparchive.org/prepare-yourself/women-hiphop

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History[edit]

Hip Hop is culture and form of ground breaking music by self-expression of elements. These elements consist of graffiti art, DJing, MCing, and break dancing. Born in the 1970's in South Bronx, the Jamaican DJ techniques, verbal delivery, African-American soul music,Brazilian capoeira inspired break dance moves, and technicolor aerosol paint, grew the phenomena known as Hip-Hop. The different styles of hip-hop music include gangster,east coast, west coast, dirty south, Midwest and others. The father of Hip-Hop is said to be DJ Kool Herc. In 1973, DJ Kool Herc also known as Clive Campbell hosted his first party in the Bronx at 1520 Sedwick Avenue. For some, 1520 Sedwick Avenue is a historical site of hip-hop because some people's favorite songs originated right from that apartment building. He had a sound system and turn tables and began to DJ for the crowd of people which birthed the coined term “Hip-Hop.” Today Hip-Hop is considered to be dead in the mainstream music business because the songs don’t have as much meaning as they did when it first adapted. Hip-Hop continues to grow although in a different form than the late 70’s to the early 90’s, It's still is a popular genre of music for the world.

Women Pioneers of Hip-Hop[edit]

The one element of Hip-Hop that has always been overlooked is the role of women in the music. Hip-Hop was once regarded as an all-male profession like other male dominated industries, but women seemed to make their way in this industry. In 1976,Sha Rock known as the first female rapper in Hip-Hop was a part of a group called Funky Four Plus One. This group was the first group from Bronx,NY to receive a record deal. Sha Rock is a icon to the hip-hop nation for initiating women to make music in this industry. Widely recognized as the first all-female group, The Mercedes Ladies were formed around 1976.They were the sister group to Grandwizard Theodore and the L Brothers. The Mercedes Ladies were recently presented in 2000 with the Hip-Hop Heritage Award from ICAST.com. These ladies paved the way for many females who had the desired to be a part of the Hip-Hop music world.

The Hip-Hop music world of women had many MCs that became successful in their music that touched many people with their lyrics. Some of the these females made a big impact on women’s rights and what they stand for as a gender. Queen Latifah, resided to Bronx, NY was a beat boxer for a rap group called Ladies Fresh. Her most successful album "Ladies First" had an empowering message that emphasized women power. She became one of the most influential women rappers with her messages in her lyrics. Most notably Salt-n-Pepa, who began their career by dissing Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s 1985 hit record “The Show” with their own song “The Show Stoppa”. This group was the first female rap group to cross over to the Billboard Pop Chart with a gold single called "Push It." This was a big phenomenon in the record industry for female hip-hop artist. Lauryn Hill, sometimes called the gem of the 90’s was a original lyricist and expressed herself through her lyrics in her songs. She was the only female apart of the trio group in the 90s’ called The Fugees. In 1997 she begin to produce and write her own album called “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first week sales for a female artist. Missy Elliot, a mainstream female artist took the Hip-hop world by surprise with her spunk and style of rapping. She got her break in the music business by working with artists like MC Lyte, Adina Howard and Jodeci. She was later signed to Swing Mob Records as part of the group Sista. After going solo, in 1997 she released of her album "Supa Dupa Fly". The album was a huge success and the number of artists wanting to work with her grew to its highest peak.

Feminism[edit]

In 1999, Joan Morgan a pioneer in hip-hop journalist coined the phrase “Hip Hop feminism” for today’s hip hop culture. Although we have women who have a voice in hip hop,we also have the men who down grade females in their lyrics. Many female artist felt that shouldn't had been a problem since everyone is all working in the same music industry. Female hip-hop artist would make “dis” records to retaliate at the men who degraded through expressing how they felt. The first “dis” record came from a rapper name Roxanne Shante. She spearheaded feminism with her response to UTFO record called “Roxanne,Roxanne”. The song "Roxanne,Roxanne" referred to a girl that they were trying to talk to that would not respond to their words. Roxanne Shante pointed out the prevalent feminism in men rap songs with her respond records. Queen Latifah also responded to male artist that called females out there name with her song called “U.N.I.T.Y”. The main phrase that struck listeners to her song was “who you callin a bitch??” which stood up for women rights of being disrespected.

Sexism[edit]

Female rappers also had many obstacles to achieve with sex symbols betrayed by the media. Women didn’t get much exposure and hype like men did in Hip-hop unless they were semi naked. Hip-hop suggested female MC's should only provide eye candy for male MC's. This was an issue because men wouldn't take their music as seriously as a artist male artist. Sales could drop for these female artist and talent could not be shown to it's full potential. This came in conflict with many of their rap styles. For artist to get notice they had to wear tight clothing or have sex appeal to men. Missy Elliot changed the image of women for the world of hip-hop. Her styles was a tomboy look that consisted of baggy clothes and short hair. Her style did not stop her from selling records or making hits because lyrically her music was flawless. Female rapper Da Brat also had similar style as Missy Elliot which her look also didn’t interfere with her music.

Women Hip-Hop Today[edit]

In women hip-hop music today there is not really a big selection of artist in mainstream music.There are many underground females artist who have not received a record deal like Lola Luv, Miss Nana, and Jean Grae. Hip-hop has only female MC that has been the best female artist since her debut album "Pink Friday" hit stores. Nicki Minaj is a R&B and Hip-hop artist that came on the scene from being apart of Lil'Wanye's group called Young Money. Nicki Minaj has collaborated with many artist from different genres of music. She has turned to be a icon for most female with a fan base of males and females. Her image does not uphold 80's and 90's style of dress,but her own style appeals to the hip-hop nation well. She continues to be the only female rapper in hip-hop standing alone making number one songs.

My Mic Sounds Nice[edit]

Million of viewers tuned into the show My Mic Sounds Nice aired on Black Entertainment Television also known at BET. In this music documentary the women of hip-hop spoke their minds about what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated music genre. They spoke upon the male artist that lyrically violated women and also their obstacles they overcame to stardom.The show featured most female MC's and interviews on certain topics about hip-hip throughout history on the show.