Where is the Next Lauryn Hill?
So yesterday I was listening to J.Period’s amazing “Best of Lauryn Hill” mixtape and I realized how much hip-hop is suffering right now. Come on, when is the last time you were inspired by something you heard on the radio or saw on MTV or BET? Rap music is really in shambles when someone like Drake is considered the next big thing. (And I know Davey D would remind me that there are hundreds of inspiring rappers in the underground, but I think we all can agree that mainstream rap music pretty much sucks right now.)
The absence of strong female MCs is particularly noticeable in today’s beef inspired music. While there a handful of great rappers like Psalm One, Invincible and Jean Grea holding the down the fort, there just aren’t a lot of women having a big influence over the listening public. And I am not even going to mention the laundry list of video vixens that have recently attempted to pick up the mic because it would sort of be like dissing all the real wordsmiths out there.
I think this is a huge problem. More after the jump.
A lot of times when I am filling out grant proposals, foundations ask about the role that women and girls play in our programs. The question isn’t posed because foundations don’t care about boys, but because program officers realize that if an organization is doing a good job engaging women it’s most likely going to be doing a good job of working with men. It’s sort of like a least common denominator test.
If this test were applied to hip-hop music right now, rap would definitely be losing. The music industry needs to take a cue from the philanthropy world and figure out how to empower women. Otherwise we are all going to lose a whole generation to the brainless blabber that dominates the airwaves.
Until that day, I am going to keep praying that Lauryn Hill gets her self right and starts rapping again.
There are great female emcees, but they aren’t given enough shine. Rather than looking to mainstream media for the messiah, why not let the messiah rise from amongst the people?
I showcase great femcees on my show like Ayana Soyini and Naeink. If more sistas wanna get heard, they can send me their music and I’ll get it on “The Experience with momowilly.”
And truth be told, I’m pretty nice on the mic myself.
who are they? my list is a little longer then what I listed in the blog, but I am not hearing a lot of voices popping up from the underground. In the early 2000s there were folks like Lady Luck, Rah Digga, Bahamadia, Medusa, even Rage who were consistently chasing the dudes down for microphone supremacy. Not to mention the 90s. But it seems like today people like Nicki Minaj are taking up way too much space.
send me something to biko@youngvoter.org
I dont know to much about the emcee world, but i know good music. I still to this day listen to lauryn hill’s cd amongst those like fugees, jay-z (at his prime “the blueprint”), ll cool j and lyricist that actually had meaning to what they write. No doubt we need another lauryn hill, but until this industry can see beyond the wealth, women, and fame i really dont believe it will happen. Lyricist that i beleive is kind of catchin on, people like common and maxwell. Where it is obvious that work is being put in 100%. So until then i really doubt it. We need musicians not sex symbols, not gansta rappers, not money hungry, but it’s hard especially becuase todays society has glorified and manipulated fame over good music.
Great question Biko…. “Where are all the female rappers?” KRS 1 asked that same question at Rock the Bells in Chicago this year, and I soooo wanted to bum-rush the stage, and proclaim our existence, but since that ain’t really my stilo, so I fell back. lol
This isn’t an easy question to answer, since everything is relative, but the truth of the matter is, Women in hip-hop are here, alive, and well… The fact that there isn’t much positive ‘commercial’ attention placed on sista’s who spit fiyah with most of her clothes on, is part of a larger societal problem. Hip-hop doesn’t exist in a bubble (quoting my sistas AquaMoon)… Hip-hop does not own the rights on exclusion, misogyny, and the poor representation of women in the media. Once we answer the questions of ‘where are the women at the decision making levels who can truly impact the visibility of women and girls in the media’, then we will see where the intelligent female rappers are hiding?…
We are right under your noses, in the trenches, holding it down in the community, keeping the movement alive. We are the ones who, in addition to holding down jobs to pay our bills, write rhymes, produce our own tracks, engineer our own studio sessions, design our own artwork and web sites, while many also have the obligations of family and children.
I’m always tickled by these gender discussions, especially since there are only 2 genders to contend with. Why don’t we see more women? Why not ask the men who make the decisions on what you what music you have access to?… The one’s who run the music companies.
As for me, I’m giving respect where it’s due. Big ups to the women holding it down in the Chi… Ang 13, Anyi, Yakira, DSoul, Newsense, Teefa, APG, Unmovaboo, Fm Supreme, Deja Taylor, Spq’her, Rhythm, Isa Starr, Ladee Flipside, AquaMoon, Lady Terror, Allegra Dolores, Nikki Lynette, Rita J, Ladies Runnit, Camoflaj Jones, and yours truly… to name a few of the women who I respect as artists in my city alone.
As co-founder of ‘B-Girl Power’ a movement of women in hip-hop, I say the question should not be ‘Where’s the next Lauyrn Hill?’ there will always only be one Lauryn, like there will only be one Nas. Like there will never be the next Pac, just as there will never be another DJ Kool Herc. Celebrate individuality and encourage more women into an industry that we have, for so long, been shut out of.
So, let us not ask where the women are. Let us ask “Why is there a deliberate effort to keep her voice so quiet? Cos I can assure you, it’s not her choice.
and THAT…as the kids say…. is real talk!
@amina super real talk.Thanks for the response and thanks for the list. I am going to be checking for these folks, especially because I’ve only heard of ANG 13. But I can already tell Chicago MCs bring that fire, there is a real strong hip-hop community in Chicago.
I think that in this era, it is super important for MCs, really all artists, to develop a business model that allows them to compete with the other bs that’s out there.
Not only is the absence of balance in mainstream music deafening, but the labels’ bizness model is broken. Good music can get through the noise, except its not going to be any more overnight successes cause by label support, but by folks actively building constituents through online and real time performances.
(Thanks for the feedback Biko…)
Being competitive in the world of music biz crucial… But in that lies another conundrum.
The truth is many of us become emcees because we are writers, and artists in hip-hop, and have something to say. NOT because we are in search of the next deal, or trying to get put on (whateva the heck “getting put on” really means, cos everything is relative). We do it for the love of hip-hop, for the thrill of rockin shows, seeing the hands in the air and the crowd ‘feelin’ you, to share our message. Most of us aren’t in it for the fame, (though I guess that would be a nice by product)… We do it because we are poets, it is innate. That’s why many of us still do “FREE Shows” (sorry for letting that cat out the bag!lol) This makes the question of commerce, economics, marketing, sales, publishing, and intellectual property a whole ‘nother ball of wax.
One reason I luv Chicago so much is because we are still very organic in the practice of hip-hop as a culture, so we still just do it for the love. I find that true in many underground hip-hop scenes around the country as well. We need to begin to call spades ‘Spades’. The emcee element of Hip-Hop and the Business of Music are two different beasts. We do a disservice to the art when we don’t make that distinction.
Many phenomenal artists are still unknown to the masses, but that makes them no less dope! It’s time for us to dig deeper for the goods. I just hope we don’t taint the purity of that too.
[...] let it be said that I can’t admit when I am wrong. Last week I posted a blog called “Where is the Next Lauryn Hill?” where I pretty much said that hip-hop is dying because of the lack of female participation. [...]