Yesterday I had the unfortunate experience of learning about a term called Feminist Rap – and today I REALLY wish I never did. For those of you who have never heard it, let me explain what it is SUPPOSE to be: Rap Music from a female matriarchal perspective that propagates the positives of women and RAGES against the male-dominated and aggressively misogynistic discourse that is a huge “problem” in hip-hop. But what “Feminist Rap” REALLY is, is a term invented by neo-hip hop heads who decided NOT to understand the true essence of Rap and decided to create this offspring of the music which only further marginalizes talented female artists.
Let me be clear: Queen Latifah was NOT a feminist rapper. Lauryn Hill was NOT a feminist rapper. Salt N Pepa were NOT a feminist rap group. I can go ON-and-ON about these women NOT being “feminist” rappers – because as a hip-hop head who was a living participant of the culture when these women were coming up, we described them by two words which female emcee’s [hell, ALL emcee's] should strive to be labelled as: Wicked Rappers. Hell, those women THEMSELVES wouldn’t even call themselves “Feminist Rappers” because they understood it was important to be respected across the genre as artists, not as some select sub-group of rappers who need to be judged and analyzed on a different scale from everyone else.
I have only had ONE celebrity crush in my ENTIRE life and that was Monie Love:
I was YOUNG as hell, but ever since I saw her in that WORD UP magazine I wanted to be Mr Monie Love from time and I ain’t ashamed to say it. What’s interesting though is one of the video’s I LOVED her in, is a video that I’m hearing these nerdy ass neo-rap chicks describe as feminist rap: “Ladies First” with Queen Latifah.
But here’s the thing these girls don’t understand: This was NOT discerned by members of the hip-hop community as “feminist rap” because we understood that the music should only stand ONE true test – Is it good or is it wack? And that song, was NOT wack. So when Monie Love & Queen Latifah were co-signed into the rap world, they didn’t have to sit at the Feminist table, while House of Pain sat at the Caucasian table and Hammer sat at the handicapped table. The hip hop world was divided along lines of commercialism [The underground & the sell-outs] but more accurately was split into two groups: The good & the HORRIBLE.
If feminists want to complain that the prevailing narrative in hip-hop is too male-centric, then FINE, but don’t you DARE try to convince me that another sub-genre of hip hop needed to be created to “fill the void” of positive-female recognition, because BEFORE you created that STUPID-ASS term, great female rappers were making LEGENDARY contributions to the world of hip-hop and all THEY asked was to be respected EQUALLY across the board, which they WERE.
Lauryn, Latifah, Left Eye, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, Da Brat, Lady of Rage, Yo-Yo, Roxanne Shante, Rah Digga, Missy Elliot, Eve, Michee Mee, MC Lyte, Mia X & Bahamadia are the most respected female emcee’s in the world and they have ALL made songs with a pro-female narrative, but they didn’t clamour for respect because of their political leanings, and they GOT respect by the entire hip-hop community for being TALENTED regardless of what point of view they were coming from.
My analogy is this: The creation of the term “Feminist Rap” is essentially the same as creating the WNBA with shortened three-point lines, smaller balls and shorter games – when some women were already playing and dominating men in the NBA – it’s unnecessary BULLSH*T. Marginalizing yourself is NOT always the answer to increasing your presence and relevancy in your selected field and the reality is sometimes it has the reverse effect of intentionally excluding yourself from the mass populous which becomes counter-productive. Young girls should strive to be great RAPPERS, not great FEMINIST RAPPERS.
So feminists, if you are looking at the landscape of hip-hop today and you are wondering where the positive female voices have gone, please chalk that up to today’s current breed of emcee wanting to strive for commercial success like Nikki Minaj instead of making substantive music like L Boogie, and please REFRAIN from creating some bullsh*t discourse about patricarchy running too wild for women today when STRONG MINDED WOMEN WERE LOVED BY HIP HOP MANY YEARS BEFORE YOU CREATED THIS BS TERM.
This Is Your Conscience
18 Comments, Comment or Ping
lincolnanthonyblades
Ladies & Gentlemen, Do You See ANY Good To The Term "Feminist Rap" Becoming A Large Part Of Hip-Hop? Or Is It Just Unnecessary?
Aug 19th, 2011
Abu Husain
I must be slow, but I've never even heard that term being used…
Aug 19th, 2011
theoneash20
Obviously, I have to study feminism & all that it stands for, cause right now, the people who run it seem to have a female supremacist / misandry agenda….
I am with you Lincoln… Women need to compete on their own merit, not ask for special privileges to feel equal…
Complete & Utter Bullshit!
Aug 19th, 2011
@craziijnell
Neither have I. And, without the knowledge of the term, based on Linc's post, I'm not sure what's wrong with the term.
As I understand it (with limitations), feminist rap may be a counter to the Nicki Minaj, Trina, etc of the contemporary rap game. Is it any different than the title "Conscious" for rappers like Common, Talib, The Roots, Tribe etc?
Aug 19th, 2011
Jason Howe
Me neither. Hip Hop is just hip hop to me, I use to even hate it when it's called concious, underground, gangster, etc… Just Hip Hop to me… the diversity of it is why I love it.
Aug 19th, 2011
The_Mad_HATER
rappers should be rappers and not feminists rappers or white rappers or indian rappers or retarded rappers or illiterate rappers just rappers!
Aug 19th, 2011
The_Mad_HATER
whats wrong with the term is its creating a useless sub genre of rap that only hurts the women from looking like real rappers!
Aug 19th, 2011
Crystal Promo-Fernandez
Yeah I've never heard of this before but it just sounds terrible
Aug 19th, 2011
HerCommonSense
Agreed lol
Aug 19th, 2011
HerCommonSense
I agree especially because the women listed above have been completing and dominating very well.
Aug 19th, 2011
MistaHarsh
Anyone who uses that term are either new to hip hop or never lived during that era. How can you call Latifah feminist when she's part of the Flava Unit that includes Apache(I need a gangsta b*tch) and Naughy by Nature(OPP – I think she was in the video)
These are the same people saying Micheal Jackson was overated because people like Chris brown can do his moves too. Or compare LBJ and Kobe to MJ. Ya'll youngins don't know no how many HoFer's MJ stopped from getting a ring.
Aug 19th, 2011
@craziijnell
where's the evidence of this?
Aug 19th, 2011
HerCommonSense
I actually agree with Mad Hater on this one…I think women have worked so hard trying to gain respect and autonomy in the hip-hop world that creating "feminist rap" as being outside of the "true rap world" is not conducive to women gaining true equality in rap
Aug 19th, 2011
Paul Brown
You, sir, are on point with that.
Aug 19th, 2011
Mia
You are an idiot. Who says it has to be a "subgenre"??? At a time when black women's voices were being silenced, not only in black communities but in general, women like Queen Latifah and Monie Love were promoting women's importance, demanding equal treatment for women and demonstrating the need for women to support one another and their communities. Leave it to a man to decide what is important to privilege….please! You missed the whole point. i grew up on Salt-n-Pepa, Monie, Latifah, MC Lyte and I think most definitely their music has a feminist (read: women centered, female empowering) sensibility. Does that mean they need their own section in the music store? Absolutely not. But i do, however, think it's important to recognize the impact rappers like Latifah were making on girls coming of age during that time. They made us feel strong and gave us visibility. How can you as a man, negate and try to take that away? That is not your right. Tou have no idea what is was to be a black girl coming up in the 1980s and 1990s so why don't you spend more time to speaking about what you know rather than trying to tell someone else's story???? This is sad and your argument is weak.
Oct 18th, 2011
Mia
but it's not a level playing field….it never was. we never asked for "special privileges"…just equal privileges. i couldn't agree more…please DO go study some feminism and then come back and make an informed comment.
Oct 18th, 2011
Mia
that's just like when white people say "i don't see color." it's because they're white and in a position of power so they don't have to see color.
Oct 18th, 2011
Mia
"this is your conscience"? really? you do not speak for me or any other woman. can you be any more narcissistic? hahaha…that made me laugh.
Oct 18th, 2011
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