My wife and I discuss this topic just about every month. She counsels high school students here in Philly and let’s just say that their musical tastes do not suit her. She comes from a world where hip-hop and more specifically, MC Lyte rules. In fact, her top 5 hip-hop albums are:
1. Wu Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
2. MC Lyte – Lyte as a Rock
3. A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
4. Gangstarr – Step in the Arena
5. Mc Lyte – Eyes on This
So we frequently discuss the state of female MC’s in hip-hop today and just a few weeks ago, she told me that there are no positive female MC’s in the mainstream. Basically, if you’re a young girl today that wants to get into hip-hop, who would you look up to? Of course, thinking about this issue has had me playing my top female MC album lately; Queen Latifah‘s All Hail the Queen. Have you ever heard this album or seen the album cover (above)? Latifah was a militant sister with a picture of Africa on her album cover. I can’t see any lady in mainstream hip-hop doing that today. What ‘major’ label would support that? Ironically, it baffles me that now she’s a Cover Girl/Jenny Craig spokesmodel but I guess she has to take care of herself and make money. But back in those days, she was an emcee’s MC, male or female. Anyway, I’ve decided to throw up a few of my favorite hip-hop songs by or featuring the ladies. If you haven’t heard them, then take a moment to listen and reminisce.
Queen Latifah w/Monie Love – Ladies First
MC Trouble – Gotta Get a Grip
MC Lyte – 10% Dis
Roxanne Shante – Have a Nice Day
Lin Que – Rip it Up
Bahamadia – Rugged Ruff
Queen Latifah – U.N.I.T.Y.
Lady of Rage – Afro Puffs
Heather B. – All Glocks Down
Nonchalant – 5 O’Clock
Yo Yo w/Ice Cube – What Can I Do?
Nicki D – Daddy’s Little Girl
Lauryn Hill – Lost Ones (remix)
N-Tyce – Hush Hush Tip
Nicki D, Paula Perry, Rah Digga, Heather B, Precious P & Bahamadia – Six-Pack
MC Lyte w/Positive K – I’m Not Havin’ It
Eve – Love is Blind
Salt ‘N Pepa – My Mic Sounds Nice
Antoinette – Who’s the Boss?
Monie Love – Monie in the Middle
Sweet Tee – On the Smooth Tip
Boss – Deeper
Females can rock the mic!
~Vincent~
THIMK 
fresh
By: hotbox on April 19, 2009
at 10:36 am
Ladybug from Digable Planets – any song (especially from Blowout Comb).
I like H.W.A (Hoez With Attitude) – a group that everybody laughed at – but their EP Az Much Ass Azz U Want is nice little album that I listen to this day. I doubt that your wife would dig that album.
Much props.
P.S. I appreciate that you included Boss and Nonchalant in your list – people are forgetin’ their efforts.
By: matija on April 19, 2009
at 12:15 pm
that n-tyce track is still the ish!
By: twc02 on April 19, 2009
at 12:28 pm
yo thats a ill female MC mixtape!
Bahamadia- Rugged Ruff? no UKNOWHOWEDU Or True Honey Buns or 3 the Hard way?
but neither than that its all good.
remember, in 1996 Lil kim & Foxy brown changed the whole landscape of female MC’s. They were real dope when they came out and it ws all good, but look at it now and there were some repercussions that came after that. now u gotta be sexy and all of that instead of being a true MC.
but in my opinion MC Lyte is best female MC of all-time, with Latifah comin in 2nd.
By: Brandan E. on April 19, 2009
at 2:43 pm
last emperor
some tracks i uploaded..
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4499169858677410861&postID=260813868586271160
By: halftime on April 19, 2009
at 5:10 pm
I feel the same way about the females back then. They sure can rock the mics too!!
By: Chandler on April 19, 2009
at 8:36 pm
you should check out a new Aussie rap group called The Last Kinection, they have a female MC called MC Nay, shes dope & kinda militant too. check out Still Call Oz Home on youtube, she flips the Still Call Australia Home lyrics to be about how the Aboriginals were killed & raped etc when the English first “discovered” Australia. She can sing too!
I can never give enough props for this blog mayne, keep it up!
Peace
By: Davey on April 19, 2009
at 11:57 pm
I really miss the female emcee. You can still find them but you really have to dig. The young girls could really use someone like Latifah or Lyte to look up to.
You should check out or get your wife to check out this album by Zane called LA Women. I can’t stop listening to it and for me it was so refreshing to hear a female emcee hold down an entire album.
You can check her out at http://cdbaby.com/cd/zaneone
GREAT POST. I am going to listen to Lyte when I get home from work.
By: Tim on April 20, 2009
at 10:55 am
what about Brixx? A lady that worked together with Mos Def?
By: twc02 on April 20, 2009
at 1:00 pm
this is way off subject but i got a question to anyone out there who got the answer:
do you know where i can find that damn “Gin & Juice” Live performance with Snoop Dogg, Dogg Pound and Dre behind the 1s and 2s @ the American Music Awards 1994?
i know that you can find it on Youtube but the quality is real real real bad
so anybody that know holla
By: ddc on April 21, 2009
at 12:02 pm
I’m surprised nobody here has mentioned Jean Grae yet. Her album Jeanius with 9th Wonder last year was great. Also, Invincible’s album Shapeshifters was one of last year’s best.
By: Berto on April 21, 2009
at 7:53 pm
&&& YOU CAN FORGET BIG KAP; DA LADIES IN DA HOUSE WITH LAURYN HILL, UNEEK, PRECISE…
By: TROY on April 21, 2009
at 10:45 pm
yo Berto, almost forgot about her!
i got all of her joints she did with 9th Wonder! she got skills!! yo vincent u should check her out!!
By: Brandan E. on April 22, 2009
at 9:23 am
@Brandan and Berto – I have a couple of Jean Grae CD’s but this was primarily about ladies from the 80’s and 90’s that I liked.
By: vincentlopez on April 22, 2009
at 10:31 am
Females suck on the mic, they all just need to work the pole in the strip club.
By: HipHopGiant on April 22, 2009
at 6:21 pm
2 MC Lyte albums in the top 5? That’s stretching it.
Bahamadia needs to start cracking some more top 5 lists, in my opinion. Not a 90’s rapper though.
By: Guy Fawkes on April 22, 2009
at 7:37 pm
Bahamadia is garbage, she needs to start doing Maxim mag pics and porn
By: HipHopGiant on April 22, 2009
at 8:43 pm
can’t tell if hiphopgiant is a fool or sarcastic. don’t give a f**k.
and yes Jean Grae i would say is probably the straight-up best overall female MC ever. seriously. (but my view is that we should not gender MC’s, as it only makes things worse). JG can rap circles around pretty much everyone. go look up taco day on youtube or ‘mean’ or something. also the album babygrande (her old label) put out with Blue Sky Black Death production last year is ridiculous.
and Bahamadia definitely needs to get some more attention…
By: ianism on April 24, 2009
at 6:14 pm
The Conscious daughters went pretty hard on the mic back in the mid 90s and their still at it they just released an album earlier this year, Nut Cracker Suite.
I appreciate this post its good to see brothers recognize the sisters of the hip hop game.
Oh and I can’t forget Medusa out of L.A. she’s been at it since the 90s (I think even the 80s) she’s pretty damn dope as well.
By: mz510 on April 27, 2009
at 4:31 am
The Lady of Rage pretty much owned every Death Row song she was ever on and that’s sayin’ a lot considering she shared the mic with Snoop, Daz, Kurupt, RBX, and 2pac.
If the world was fair, she’d be one of the biggest MC”s in the world.
By: HG on May 21, 2009
at 6:19 pm
I’ve had this post bookmarked for some time and keep forgetting to add a comment. But anyways, excellent post and I’m with you on those tracks. Had to pick up that old Bo$$ album cause I hadn’t much but I liked what I heard.
I think Roxanne Shante and MC Lyte is my all time favorites!
By: DJ Bozo on July 11, 2009
at 4:21 pm
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By: 即日融資 on April 7, 2016
at 10:30 am
緊急に必要な融資は、対応してくれる金融会社をしっかりと選択して活用したほうが良いです。業態的に消費者金融などいろいろあります。これらはあなたの収入の状況などで違いがありますが、借入を利用する場合は、既存顧客の満足度などを考慮して決定するべきです。
By: 即日融資 on September 10, 2016
at 9:11 pm