Ladies of Hip Hop By Mikael Shimshon
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ip-hop has always been a storytelling art. The success of Hip Hop’s MCs was built on their willingness to smash traditional forms and use the shards to forge a new form of self-expression, just as the sound of the movement was produced by the inventive reuse of pre-existing music. The most talented male and female rappers of the 1980s and 1990s used wordplay, repetition, and extended metaphor to describe dark, violent, romantic, or hopeful situations while posing as a hero, witness, or seer. However, given the history of the music industry’s marginalization of women’s contributions, it’s simple to assume that hip-hop is a men’s club. In a genre where braggadocious lyrics about violence, sex, swagger, and masculinity rule, women are frequently portrayed as conquered women or a faceless chorus, with little attention paid to their personal experiences. Female rappers, who unabashedly detailed their perceptions and experiences of the world they lived in, were starting to make up a significant portion of the genre’s biology in the early days of the genre, when critics were still dismissing hip-hop as a transitory phenomenon. Each lady had a distinctive style, flow, and lyrical content, but what they all shared was a fiercely independent voice and the strength to persevere.
Sha-Rock
Sha-Rock was the first female emcee-rapper to release a hiphop album “on wax,” or on vinyl, when the genre originally emerged in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, during the South Bronx hip hop scene’s early years, she started out as a local b-girl, or breakdancer. The 12-inch singles “Rapping and Rocking the House” (on Sugarhill Records, 1979) and “That’s the Joint” (on Sugarhill Records, 1980), both of which were featured on public television, gave The Funky 4 + 1, Sha-Rock as the extra member, their first notable hit. MC Sha-Rock, a pioneer connected to the Zulu Nation, is credited with creating the “echo chamber” rap genre, which Run DMC popularized. “The story of the beginning and end of the first hip hop female MC”, luminary icon Sha-Rock”, was published by Green as a book in 2010.
Shante Roxanne
Shante Roxanne, was a Juice Crew member, she was asked to write a song impersonating Roxanne from the U.T.F.O. song as a response to their rap song “Roxanne, Roxanne” . The original beats from an instrumental version of “Roxanne, Roxanne” were used by Marley Marl to create the song “Roxanne’s Revenge.” Shante, who was only 14 at the time, was made when the song quickly became popular. Rapper Sparky D, who had previously released a song called “Sparky’s Turn, Roxanne You’re Through” as a diss track about her, collaborated with Shante to make a record in 1985. “Round One, Roxanne Shanté vs. Sparky Dee” was a record that was released by Spin Records. It had six songs on it, including the two original battle tracks (“Roxanne’s Revenge” and “Sparky’s Turn”), “Roxanne’s Profile” by Shante and “Sparky’s Profile” by Sparky D, as well as a battle track with censored and uncensored versions where the two rappers “Have a Nice Day” and “Go on Girl” were some of the other hits. Shante competed against Busy Bee Starski for the title of “best freestyle rapper” in 1985, but she lost owing to unfair judgment.
Queen Latifah
As a child, Dana Owens of Newark, who was raised as a Baptist, took the name Latifah after learning that it is Arabic for “delicate, sensitive, and gentle.” She was the top female rap artist when she released her debut album, “All Hail the Queen,” at the age of 19, which featured the smash single “Ladies First” and spread a message of female empowerment and self-respect in a genre known for its misogyny. In 1994, she was awarded a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance. When she was 20 years old, she co-founded the management and production company Flavor Unit Entertainment with her childhood friend Shakim Compere. Latifah continues to manage her own career with Compere’s assistance; Flavor Unit represented, among others, rapper Eve and actor Terrence Howard. Queen, she picked that title as a teenager, convinced that all women should feel like queens, including those in lowly circumstances.Queen Latifah gained notoriety, and she soon began to have an effect on the movie industry as well. She has skills on the mic, she’s an outstanding actress and a savvy business woman, there is nothing that Queen Latifah can’t do. All hail to the Queen!!!
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