Women in Rap Essay Example

Rap is the most popular and male dominated part of the music industry. The Evolution of female rappers from the initial popularity of rap to modern day is a fascinating progression. 

It is an overall consensus that rap is “made for men” and the lyrics show that. Lyrics are usually degrading towards women and the only time you saw a woman in the rap industry was them being arm candy for male rappers and their promos. It is a male-dominated field that would make it especially difficult for a woman to become extraordinary but somehow despite the misogynistic barriers, there are so many successful female rappers. Women in Hip Hop exploded in popularity during 90s but by 2005 many labels dropped the current female rappers because they weren’t seen as profitable enough to keep on the label, nobody had faith in female rappers due to the overall vibe of rap

The Grammys in 2005 dropped solo female rap acts, pointing to the obvious lack of entries that year. There were women who were writing and rapping but no one wanted to sign them. In the 90s they were the first of many female rappers to ever be signed to a label. Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliot, and Foxy Brown were all successful artists. After the 90s there was a slump and no female rappers were signed until the 2010s. Within 30 years the concept of a female in rap was nonexistent. 

By 2010 there were only 3 female artists signed to any major record labels The major one that opened the doors for the current major artists is most remarkably, nicki minaj. Nicki proved that female rappers could have just as much commercial success and have a huge fan base like any of her male counterparts. She broke an eight-year drought in solo female MCs with Pink Friday. 

As she exploded in popularity, more and more females started to be signed into rap as the years went on. Now anyone can name more than a handful of female rappers off the top of their head. Hip hop is the biggest genre in the world at the moment now there are more women than ever Women are now a huge part of rap culture and now not in the background. It is a fact that not everyone gets along, as a whole, black female rappers get along very well. It does help that they are such a marginalized group they all recognize that sticking together, supporting, and collaborating with each other will only help their careers. Women in media within the same category, media expects a cat fight for entertainment and doesn’t like to when women lift each other up in marginalized groups. Women are not only changing the ratio of men to women but the content of rap. 

Not every female rapper is hyper sexualized but many do rap about sex and body positive in a non degrading way compared to their male counterparts. Female rappers now sing about sex as female empowerment. Female sexuality is currently celebrated and not shunned like before. As more women in society become self sufficient and comfortable with themselves the music now reflects that. 

Now it is not a requirement to be sexual to have popular music. While many still do to embrace their femininity it’s obvious progress from the past. Artists like: China, Rhapsody, and Tierra Whack don’t sing about sex while on the opposite spectrum artists: Cupcakke, Megan, Nicki, Doja and Cardi rap about sex all the time. The narrative for female rap is diverse today. Cardi B a former stripper praises the girls that don’t rap about sex and encourages others to support them. From a thirty year slump of their profession being nonexistent these rappers have taken over the music industry. They have made such big strides in such little time and it looks like their fans are more than happy to support them for the long haul.