Divas of Revolutionary Hip Hop

I chose all of these songs for a reason, they all show off the artist's talent as well as the revolutionary aspects in their rhymes. For MC Lyte i chose three songs, Cappachino, Listen Up, and The Wonder Years. For Cappachino I watched the music video first. In the video she was confidently wearing her business suit and driving her convertible, i loved it so i had to pick this song. In her lyrics she says "why does everyone make things so difficult", referring to violence and drugs. She is an advocate against both. The second song just to show off more of Lyte's rhyming abilities. The Wonder Years track was very impressive. Its hard to believe that a female rapper from the 90s still has it to put out rhymes just as hard as in her early years.
The next artists were Queen Latifah and Monie Love. They joined forces and created a revolutionary track that sent a message to all men 'Ladies First'. Monie Love was from London later coming to America where she found her place. Saying one more thing about Monie, that girl can rhyme.
Queen's next track is titled U.N.I.T.Y. I chose this because she aggressively goes up against the way men treat ladies. The part that stands out the most is when she says, "Who YOU callin a BITCH", this gets the message across.
The next artist on my list is Mary J. Blige. The track i chose is Runaway Love. Mary J faces a plethora of issues of child sexual abuse, violence, and teen pregnancy. In my knowledge she is the first to take on these issues in a mainstream track and music video. That is what makes her revolutionary.
Erykah Badu is a revolutionary artist for the way she created her music. It is a totally different sound that is heard nowhere else in hip-hop. Honestly it doesnt even sound like hip-hop. She is revolutionary because she expands the limits of hip-hop.
The next diva of hip hop is the most successful in the industry. She is a hardcore in your face rapper that battles issues with a feminist attitude. Instead of showing off her body and dancing she relies on her rhymes and presence. She deserves to be called The Diva of Hip-hop.

"Never have i ever said i was good lookin' just one bad -ass bitch from Brooklyn"

MC Lyte was one of the first female rappers to exploit the sexism and misogyny that ran rampant in hip-hop, often taking the subject head on lyrically in her songs and helping open the door for such future artists as Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Lyte began rhyming at the age of 12, which eventually led to a single, "I Cram to Understand U," which led to a recording contract with the First Priority label. MC Lyte's debut full-length, Lyte As a Rock, surfaced in 1988, while a follow-up, Eyes on This, followed a year later. Both discs are considered to be the finest of the rapper's career, especially her sophomore effort, which spawned the hit single "Cha Cha Cha" (peaking at number one on the rap charts) and the anti-violence track "Cappucino." Lyte turned to Bell Biv DeVoe's writers and producers Wolf & Epic for her third release overall, 1991's Act Like You Know, a more soul music-based work than its predecessors and in 1993, issued Ain't No Other (the album's popular single, "Ruffneck," earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Single and turned out to be the first gold single ever achieved by a female rap artist).

"I listened to all of them, Salt-N-Pepa, Sequence, Funky 4+1 More, Roxanne Shante, the Real Roxanne. I realize that there was something i wasn't hearin, Stories. And I can tell stories."

"Since he was with his boys he tried to break fly I punched him dead in his eye and said "Who you calling a bitch?"
-Queen Latifah

In 1989 when she dropped her first album All Hail the Queen, Latifah was seriously claiming a new space for women in hip-hop. No other female in the Genre had the balls to challenge male supremacy. Gangsta Bitch was the first song to openly adress sexism in hip-hop and it sure would not be the last. Latifah was powerful as any man.
Like many women in hip-hop she resisted titles like "feminist". Even though she did not want to be given a title she worked hard on feminisms behalf. She has never shied away from woman's issues , and she has never let the presence or absence of a man determine her life.

''If he doesnt exist and i dont get my king, I also know i can be myself. A MAN DOES NOT MAKE YOU A QUEEN. AND A MAN CANNOT COMPLETE YOU."

"So few of us are taken seriously."

In a single breath Moni Love could spew complicated, witty, and conscious ryhmes with a blazing fast delivery that forced any MC, male or female, to rewind her tape for a second or third listen. She is a Britian born British rapper who earned a spot in the UK's underground.

She found her home though in the USA. Her major hit was a duet with Queen Latifah in "Ladies First". Her other hit was "Monie in the Middle". While propelling her to stardom her songs also raised issues that still resonate for women in hip hop today.

Love was one of the rappers wove social issues like AIDS, teen suicide, and violence into her lyrics. She also was a poster girl for motherhood and family.

"Nowadays, when so many popular female rappers bling bling without ryhme or reason, the name Monie Love evokes a style, time, and space in hip hop that is precious." -Omoronke Idowu

"I didn't really know what a feminist was, I just tried to stand my ground and be myself. I wanted to be that voice for women to come back and say, 'We're not your bitch."
-Yo Yo

"Who do you think you are? Baby one day you'll be a star...I'm just tryin' to get mine i don't have the time to knock the hustle for real!"

"What made her a star was she really didn't give a fuck,' cause she'd been through so much"- P Diddy

When her debut album, What's the 411?, hit the street in 1992, critics and fans alike were floored by its powerful combination of modern R&B with an edgy rap sound that glanced off of the pain and grit of Mary J. Blige's Yonkers, NY, childhood. Called alternately the new Chaka Khan or new Aretha Franklin, Blige had little in common stylistically with either of those artists, but like them, she helped adorn soul music with new textures and flavors that inspired a whole generation of musicians.

With her blonde hair, self-preserving slouch, and combat boots, Blige was street-tough and beautiful all at once, and the record company execs that profited off of her early releases did little to dispel the bad-girl image that she earned as she stumbled through the dizzying first days of her career. As she exorcised her personal demons and softened her style to include sleek designer clothes, she remained a hero to thousands of girls growing up in the same kinds of rough places she came from. Blige reinvented her career again and again by shedding the bad habits and bad influences that kept her down; by the time her fourth album, Mary, was released in 1999, she had matured into an expressive singer able to put the full power of her voice behind her music, while still reflecting a strong urban style. With her fifth album, No More Drama, it wasn't just Blige's style that shone through the structures set up for her by songwriters and producers, it was her own vision -- spiritual, emotional, personal, and full of wisdom, it reflected an artist who was comfortable with who she was and how far she had come.

"You'll never survive being weak as a woman in this buisness. Because it is dominated by men. Thats how people like Areatha Franklin lasted, they wasn't having it. And neither am I!"

"Showin' off your ass 'cause you're thinkin' it's the trend girlfriend let me break it down for you again...don't be a hard rock when you really are a gem"

Lauryn Hill is the mother of hip-hop invention; with her 1998 solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the Fugees' most vocal member not only established herself as creative force on her own, but also broke new ground by successfully integrating rap, soul, reggae, and R&B into her own sound.

"If you're a man in the music business, there's girls throwing their panties at you. And you can either accept it or reject it. For women it's very different. Men are often intimidated by you"

"See i picks my friends like I pick my fruit my Granny told me that when I was only a youth I don't walk around trying to be what I'm not I don't waste my time trying to get what you got"

She grew up listening to '70s soul and '80s hip-hop, but Erykah Badu drew more comparisons to Billie Holiday upon her breakout in 1997, after the release of her first album, Baduizm. The grooves and production on the album are bass-heavy R&B, but Badu's langurous, occasionally tortured vocals and delicate phrasing immediately removed her from the legion of cookie-cutter female R&B singers. A singer/songwriter responsible for all but one of the songs on Baduizm, she found a number 12 hit with her first single "On & On," which pushed the album to number two on the charts.

"Badu singlehandedly injected a much needed shot of refreshing diversity into the female hip hop aesthetic. Her towering head wraps stood in defiant opposition to the swarms of bootylicious dolls."

"Nouthing's wrong with all the beauty stuff but i prefer to just get up and go. I can't be hoppin' all around and buggin' out 'cause i gotta worry if my titty gonna pop out or my makeup's smudged."

Da Brat was one of the first of a new breed of hard-edged female MCs to hit the hip-hop scene during the '90s. Although sexuality was certainly part of her image, it wasn't as important to her as it was to Lil' Kim or Foxy Brown; instead, Da Brat made her name as a tough, profane rhymer whose hardcore attitude and lyrical skills were never in doubt. Da Brat was born Shawntae Harris in Chicago in 1974, and started rapping at age 11. Still a teenager, she was discovered by producer Jermaine Dupri in 1992, when she won an amateur rap contest and got a chance to meet Dupri's protégés Kris Kross. With their endorsement, Dupri signed her to his So So Def label and produced her debut album, Funkdafied, which was released in 1994.

The title track was an enormous hit, going to number two on the R&B charts and spending nearly three months on top of the rap singles chart. Its success -- as well as that of the follow-up singles Fa All Y'All and Give It 2 You -- helped Da Brat become the first female rapper ever to have a platinum-selling album. Funkdafied also hit number one on the R&B album chart, a staggering achievement for a debut release by a female rapper.

No female rap artist paralleled the success of Missy Elliott, neither during her reign nor before, and none was more deserving. Unlike most of urban music's female superstars, Missy writes her own songs as well as performs them and her creative wit in on a par with her stylish demeanor. In addition to her talent and showmanship, she established herself as a genuine hit maker alongside her longtime producer, Timbaland. She initially scored hits for others, namely Aaliyah ("One in a Million," "If Your Girl Only Knew") and to a lesser extent 702 ("Steelo"), before moving on to score a dazzling run for herself. Her debut album, Supa Dupa Fly (1997), spawned a number of hits such as "The Rain" that were more trend-setting than they were chart-topping. The chart-toppers, of course, came soon after: "She's a Bitch" and "Hot Boyz" (1999); "Get Ur Freak On" and "One Minute Man" (2001); and "Work It" and "Gossip Folks" (2002). In each of these, Missy proved that, with both dignity and joviality, women could be sexual as well as forceful. As a result, she defied every stereotype imaginable without forsaking her broad fan base.

"She was in love and I'd ask her how? I mean Why? What kind of love from a nigga would black your eye?

Eve was one of a new breed of tough, talented, commercially viable female MCs to hit the rap scene during the late '90s. Though she could be sexy when she chose, she wasn't as over the top as Lil' Kim or Foxy Brown, and as part of the Ruff Ryders posse, her production was harder than Da Brat's early work with Jermaine Dupri. In the end, Eve came off as her own person; a strong, no-nonsense street MC who could hold her own with most anyone on the mic; and was finding success on her own terms. She was born Eve Jihan Jeffers in Philadelphia on November 10, 1978, and started out as a singer in her early teens, performing with an all-female vocal quintet. She was also honing her skills as a rapper in impromptu battles with friends, and before she left high school, she formed a female rap duo called EDGP (pronounced "Egypt"), adopting the name Gangsta. EDGP performed at local talent shows and club gigs, often to the detriment of Eve's dedication to school. When the group broke up, she went solo and changed her name to Eve of Destruction; she also moved to the Bronx in the wake of her mother's remarriage, and worked for a time as a table dancer at a strip club. Unhappy with this direction, she decided to give rap another shot after being encouraged by Mase.

Eve's first full-length was titled Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders First Lady and released in September 1999. With Ruff Ryders the biggest name in rap, the album was an instant smash; it entered the charts at number one -- the first time a female rapper had ever accomplished that feat -- and went on to sell over two million copies. Eve also scored hits with the R&B Top Ten "Gotta Man" and the ant domestic violence track "Love Is Blind," and guested on Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott's hit "Hot Boyz." After touring in support of the record, Eve returned to the studio and delivered her follow-up, Scorpion, in early 2001. The album received strong reviews and topped the R&B charts, while debuting at number four on the pop side. Lead single "Who's That Girl?" had some chart success, but it was the follow-up, a duet with No Doubt's Gwen Stefani called "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," that really broke Eve on the pop charts. The song rocketed to number two and went on to win a Grammy in the newly created category of Best Rap/Sung Collaboration; it also helped Scorpion go platinum.

"Women in hip hop need more unity. When i met Pepa i wouldn't let her go. I hugged her so hard. I was like, i loe you, man. Roxanne Shante, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte-you must respect them YOU MUST!"