Nowadays, respectable black women are hard to find in Hip-Hop. Ever since the popularization of hedonistic rap music, audiences have foolishly embraced the cocktease “stereotype” of black females. What’s particularly disenchanting is the apparent decrease of female emcees with worldly ideals. Don’t get me wrong, Jean Grae does a number on worldly perspectives, this is a truthitude. However, further consideration shows that artists such as Jean Grae get less airplay than her poontang promoting peers. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this is a felony, worthy of dismemberment. Let the execution begin.

Lackluster exposure of positive female rap acts is a major misgiving for black women in Hip-Hop. The climate of rap music is controlled by “gold diggers” and “whoremongers” such as Lil’ Kim and/or Trina (“Da Baddest Bitch”.) If Kim’s lyrics in the song “Jump Off” are any indication of what young women are becoming these days, the apocalypse is near. In the second verse of the song, we catch Kim shamelessly saying:

“Don’t he know Queen Bee got the ill deep throat?…

Uh! Let me show you what I’m all about…

How I make a Sprite can disappear in my mouth….HO !!!

Rap music is a genre which was, and still is, easy to exploit because of poor ethics. A reason for this is the desire to “get money,” especially since a lot of rappers have lived in poverty most of their lives. So when mammoth corporations such as Viacom see the opportunity to make more money from sex and violence, the artist is willing to help them, assuming the old “rags to riches(a.k.a the American Dream to you patriotic cyberdrones)” story will come true.

By looking at the numbers, it’s evident that “raunchy” rap is winning in the race to sell records, and “sell out.” To measure this, we will compare Lil’ Kim and Jean Grae, who is more conscious and message-oriented in her musical catalogue. In 2003, Lil’ Kim’s La Bella Mafia sold 1.1 million records. Paling in comparison to the Queen Bee Jean Grae sold well under 20,000 copies of her Bootleg of a Bootleg EP. 2005 saw an incarcerated Lil’ Kim sell 2 million records, surpassing every other female rapper that year, including Jean Grae. Promotion is stronger on Lil’ Kim’s side, which is a basic explaination for the discrepancy. Unfortunately, the “seesaw” is still weighed in favor of Kim’s a-moral antics. This is a fair indication that consumer support for positive rap is dwarfed by commercial rap. It’s a popularity contest, a competition where catering to the hypersexual demands of macho egos wins the grand prize, money to swim in and severe deficit of self-respect, congratulations. Are you sick of this like I am? Good, I went to budget and rented a time-machine, lets go back to the Golden era of Hip-Hop where self-respect was a prerequisite and money was an added bonus.

The “Golden Era of Hip-Hop (1986-1993)” showed respect for black female rappers. Before Hip-Hop went “pop,” black women were an integral part of Hip-Hop music. The incorporation of feminine emcees jumped off with the Roxanne vs. UTFO battle. Not only was this one of the first public battles in the rap game, it introduced Roxanne Shante to Hip-Hop “fiends”. For the first time, a woman proved her worth in a genre of macho male listeners. She came on the scene replying to the song “Roxanne Roxanne,” which was about three male suitors trying to “get with” Roxanne. Shortly after the song’s release, Shante shocked UTFO by releasing “Roxanne’s Revenge.” That’s exactly what she got, revenge. Go girl, give ‘em a taste:

He ain’t really cute, and he ain’t great
He don’t even know how to operate
He came up to me with some bullshit rap
But let me tell you somethin’ ’cause you know it was wack

Roxanne Shante showed the world that (black) female emcees were no joke, nobody’s play thing, and an important ingredient to the recipe of rap music.

As time passed from 1984 to 1988 Roxanne Shante faded into oblivion, but her legacy remains. This strong assertive, no nonsense feminine attitude was also seen in some of Shante’s contemporaries. It seems that she was the prototype for strong black females who “head-locked” the microphone. Artists such as MC Lyte, Salt ‘N’ Pepper and Queen Latifah followed the standard established by Shante. As conscious black women, they commanded respect. This attitude is witnessed in a song titled “Ladies First” by Queen Latifah.

Ladies first, there’s no time to rehearse
I’m divine and my mind expands throughout the universe
A female rapper with the message to send the
Queen Latifah is a perfect specimen

Once one compares the lyrics of Lil’ Kim(present day rap) and that of Queen Latifah(golden era rap), who represent the vanguard of their respective eras, we can see that the role of black females in Hip-Hop has declined. We can attribute this decline to record companies’ desire to make ridiculous amounts of money by exploiting artists. Now that black females have been forsaken, Hip-Hop will lose a profound aspect, the perspective of a black woman. The backbone of the family is the mother, how can we ignore her presence in a genre which is rooted in expression of the “underdog,” the “little guy,” or simply those marginalized in society? As a culture we should not stand for this. This is an outrage. Hip-Hop as well as society at large is drowning in a sea overwhelmed with “greed is good,” and “ignorance is acceptable” notions murdering the truly genuine qualities our culture has to offer.

Frederick Douglass once said: “There is no progress without struggle.” So how can hip-hop progress, when women, especially black women are not being poised for the rigors of the struggle. If you want to make an argument for why hip-hop’s dead, start with our life-force, “Mother Earth(Women).” Why have we turned her into a booty-shaking, scantily clad, low-self-respect jezebel for G-Unit?” Would you like your “mother dearest” freaking-off(dancing) for G-Unit(”Shake Sh Shake dat ass girl”—”Mom your embarassing me, I’m never bringing you to a party again!!”)? I figured you wouldn’t. So why do we accept much much less from the rest of our Queens? Understand, music suspends reality when it doesn’t show our females, black or white a regal level of respect. Lets bring Hip-Hop back to a time when women were Queens and we were their respective Kings, where every one is equal, love prevails and art reflects human virtues, and not simply Ron Jeremy’s wet dreams.

Words from Thursday:

P lease
E ducate
A ll
C hildren
E qually

2 Responses to “Rap Queens 2 Video Hoes”

1. educated minor Says:
   March 27th, 2006 at 3:50 pm

   This post deserves props..it says alot/but alot needs to be said…. its in the hands of the community to demand more of their artists..the money machine wont stop unless WE redirect it.

2. shelley hill Says:
   September 27th, 2007 at 8:24 pm

   theswe womwn are grown and they know what they are doing leave them alone its there life theyhave to answer to god u cant anser for them

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