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NEW YORK. — Hip-hop can seem like a man’s world, but women have been there from the start.
The infamous Bronx party that gave birth to the genre was organised by Cindy Campbell, a high school student who was trying to raise money for her back-to-school clothes. It was Cindy who wrote invitations on index cards and invited her brother Clive, aka DJ Kool Herc, to play the music.
Here are five women who changed the course of hip-hop.
1) Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah wasn’t the first female rapper, but she was the first to become a star. With a no-nonsense, straight-talking style that emphasised feminine power and Afrocentric consciousness, her hits included U.N.I.T.Y, Ladies First and Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children.
Words have always been something that I’ve loved. From the time I was eight years old, I would always write poems. And that obviously turned into rapping. Rhythm and poetry — that’s what rap is.
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2) Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill proved her rap credentials on Fugees tracks like Vocab and How Many Mics, but it was the uplifting blend of hip-hop, soul and reggae on her solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill that cemented her legacy. To this day, she remains the only female rapper to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
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3) Missy Elliott
Innovative, individual, incomparable — Missy Elliott changed the sound of hip-hop forever, with her alien beats and larger-than-life music videos. Hits like Get Ur Freak On and Work It were often imitated, but never bettered, with Missy branding her competition “beat biters”. Missy took us into that pop world, that crossover world. Everything was bigger and brighter and bolder. She brought a theatrical element to hip-hop in her presentation and her videos.
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4) Nicki Minaj
One of the fiercest wordsmiths on the planet, Nicki Minaj burst on to the scene with 2010’s Pink Friday, at a time when female MCs were missing from mainstream hip-hop. Since then, she’s scored 133 hits on the Billboard chart, including Starships, Anaconda and Super Freaky Girl.
Her wordplay is incredible.
5) Leikeili47
The elusive, Brooklyn-based rapper Leikeili47 keeps her identity hidden under a ski mask, ensuring the focus remains on her dextrous, quotable lyrics.
I was watching the HBO drama Vinyl and this song came on that I didn’t recognise. I was like “wait, who does this?” so I Shazam-ed it, and went into this Leikeili47 deep-dive. I never looked back. — BBC.
Online Reporter