Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Phenomenon that is the Female MC

The place of the female rapper has always been an interesting one in the hip hop and rap industry. The issue that arises is that women MCs write lyrics that are almost perverse, and can make the male listener feel very uncomfortable. This makes for a lack of appeal to a broad audience and continues to hold women rappers down; however, they will just not go away. I appreciate their hard work and definitely respect how much harder it is for a woman to come up in a man's world, but I really don't like to hear about their sexual acts, and how many men they have slept with, as well as how well they perform fellatio; to me that is just not what a respectable woman should be talking about.

The first Ruff Ryders record, Ryde or Die Vol. 1, will always go down as one of my favorite albums of all times. The album features incredible production by Swizz Beats and phenomenal songs from a young DMX, and my favorite rap trio of all time The L.O.X. However, there are two songs in particular that I always have to skip: Eve's "What Ya Want", and Big Pun's "Pina Colada". "What Ya Want'" has one of the best beats I have ever heard, yet, the braggadocio rhymes by female MC Eve make me borderline uncomfortable. The following lines almost make me wanna never listen to rap again out of fear that a female rapper might pop out of no where and drop a verse that will make me cringe:
Eve handcuff niggaz but I don't arrest em
Shorty-bang hear the niggaz singin, shoutin my name
Make the thuggish niggaz scream, watchin me entertain
Dicks brick when I lick the lips, just keepin it plain
Fantasizin bout this bitch, got em goin insane
Oooh's and ahhh's, 5'7" thick in the thighs
Every thugs dream wife, see the love in they eyes?
My time to shine, whole package make her a dime


The line "Eve handcuff niggaz but I don't arrest 'em" makes me question how someone can even agree to put out a song like this. To my knowledge the popular demographic among hip-hop fans is men, so how can a man rap along, or nod his head to a song that applauds S&M and a woman performing fellatio?- it's impossible. Yes, male rappers frequently rap about the women they have slept with and their sexual escapades, and unfortunately this is accepted in society, so why would a woman rap about the same things if she knows she will only be labeled as a "slut" and a whore"? It just does not make sense to me.

The Big Pun song, "Pina Colada" doesn't feature a female rapper per say, but the opening line to this song is "Where my niggaz with the big dicks?" sung by a woman, which makes me immediately hit next on my iPod. In a male dominated world there seems to be no place for the female rapper, which explains the lack of them in the history of hip-hop music. During the beginning of the music, women rappers frequently rapped about women uniting together and the problem's facing women during the time. But as time wore on, and male sexual escapades became more openly accepted, women were and continue to be seen as objects, as demonstrated by almost every single hip-hop video that has come out in the last fifteen years. So ladies, I respect your hustle, but the rap game is really not a wise career decision, so please put your talents to a better use. And, don't let me get started on Nicki Minaj from Lil Wayne's camp because she may be the worst thing that has ever happened to music.

Anyway, for those of you who started class today like myself, here is something to bop along too:

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