Female Rappers Empower Other Women Using Rap as a Vehicle - Koko

             Out of the four elements of Hip Hop, Rap has always been male-dominated due to the media exposure of men putting out the first rap record. Females were involved in rapping outside the media. Female rappers like MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shante, and Monie Love, have struggled hard to get the success close to the male rappers in the 80’s and 90’s. Female rappers proved as much lyrical skills as men while struggling against sexism and created ‘spaces’ to deliver empowering messages to all females. According to Cheryl Keyes in her reading Empowering Self, there are four categories to female rappers that empower all women. Many female rappers fit in more than one categories. In this blog, I will be talking about how female rappers in Hip Hop culture helps articulate women’s identity that is marginalized by society due to sexism by being in categories described by Cheryl Keyes.

            First category described by Cheryl Keyes is the “Queen Mother”.  Queen Mothers are the intelligent women also known as “sistas droppin’ science to the people”. Queen stems from ancient African Queens that had rights and privileges including control over portions of land in Africa. Female rappers in this category demand respect in their strong lyric and attitude from everybody including men. Queen Mothers have a mature motherly image and express ethics of caring. Great example of a female rapper in this category is Queen Latifah. She is known as the other mother, addressing political-economic issues facing all Black women and the Black community in her strong lyricism.

          

Second category is the Fly Girl. Attires worn by female rappers in this category stems from films like Shaft, Superfly, The Mack, and Foxy Brown. Female rappers in this group are not shy to show off their figure in tight clothes. They came at a time when Black women’s bodies were considered undesirable by mainstream standards of beauty. Fly Girls like Salt N Pepa, TLC, Yo-Yo, and Missy Elliot taught us to be sexually independent, sexy, and most importantly, accept and love our own bodies. 

          Third category is the Sista with Attitude. Female rappers in this category are Da Brat, MC Lyte, Lil Kim, and Foxy Brown. They are not afraid to use the word Bitch and use it as an empowerment rather then a negative term. In their definition, Bitch is a fierce girl, a strong, aggressive women who goes after what she wants. Some female rappers like Lauryn Hill is against the use of the word Bitch.

            Last but not least, the Black female rappers in the Lesbian category. I thought they were the most brave out of the other three categories because they had to struggle against white male patriarchal culture, racism, and on top of all that, the white lesbian culture and general homophobia. They were the first to rap about and address the lesbian lifestyle from Black woman’s perspective. Example of a rapper in this category is Queen Pen. Her song “Girlfriend” was empowering to all lesbians but especially to the Black lesbians.

 

            Black female rappers are breaking negative stereotypes about being females in the rap industry. They are deconstructing and reconstructing black women’s identity through being a Queen Mother, Fly Girl, Sista with Attitude, and/or the Lesbian. Just like Cheryl Keyes explains in her writing, rap is used as a vehicle for black women to seek empowerment to make choices and create spaces for themselves and other women around the world.