The so-called femcee has always been a gift and a curse to hip-hop – a gift, in the sense that there are a handful (literally) of women rappers who have always held their own on a track and even find themselves listed amongst people’s favorites… as top rappers PERIOD, not just top women rappers. However, in a sense, they are a curse because they often still fall short of being taken seriously or at least given as much consideration in the male-dominated and male-driven world of rap. Guaranteed, for every one great lyricist who just happens to be a female that is denied a record deal, two male rappers who are mediocre at best get signed somewhere.

The female rapper in 2011 again flew under the radar. With the sole exceptions of Young Money’s First Mistress Nicki Lewinsky First Lady, Nicki Minaj; Bay Area n-word abusers representers Kreayshawn and V-Nasty; and to a lesser degree Florida mainstay Trina and video girl-turned-spitter Lola Monroe, no women rappers really got any major shine. A pity, given that BET had at least hinted towards progress – and promoting said progress – with their 2011 documentary My Mic Sounds Nice. However, just because she may not have had a mainstream presence, doesn’t mean the female rapper wasn’t present. Indeed, a number of faces familiar and brand new made waves last year and laid strong foundations to make the femcee more than just its usual one or two a calendar year showing. So I’m running a series throughout this month, during which I intend to highlight the “Breakout Queens”: the female emcees who made the strongest showings and developed enough momentum in 2011, to be serious problems in 2012.

Rapsody

No, I’m not talking about the online music streaming service. In one way or another, you no doubt heard Marlanna Evans – aka Rapsody -’s name brought up this year.  Read the rest of this entry →