SW 18: R.I.P. to the Female Emcee
Scratch Magazine recently ran a great article (if not for the actual content, just for the sheer acknowledgement of the problem) posing the question “where is the female mc?” While it has been some time since I’ve read the article, I remember walking away with the notion that labels have essentially come to the conclusion that signing and promoting a female emcee is simply not worth it. Female hip-hop acts, as they see it, are more high maintenance, and traditionally do not sell as many records as their male counterparts. From a practical standpoint, half of this statement is true- compare the costs of a full time stylist, hair person and makeup person to the cost of a few new era caps and a box of white-tees and you’ll start seeing their point. However, the other half of the assertion, that being that female emcees simply cannot be successful in the marketplace is a crock of shit, and really just stems from the laziness and cowardice of the industry.
Author Joan Morgan raised an incredible point at a recent university lecture: Nelly Furtado has done hip-hop records with Timbaland (whether you want to admit it or not, they are talking in rhyme on that “Promiscuous” song), Gwen Stefani’s biggest hit off of her solo record was the Pharrell helmed “Hollaback Girl”, Fergie is backed and no doubt coached by Will.I.Am, and Shakira just scored a huge summer smash with Wyclef. By the way, am I the only one that got hype everytime that song started, thinking it was Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz “Deja Vu”, only to be profoundly and utterly disappointed, everytime? In any case, those particular pairings were mentioned to point out that the black male hip-hop producer is being promoted and marketed as a desirable brand, yet there are virtually no black female voices coming from a hip-hop perspective that are being sold in a similar way. When female hip-hop artists are sold as desirable, it’s not in the aspirational manner that a Pharrell Louis Vuitton advertisement may convey, but rather in a base, oversexualized, and exploitative context. The black female voice in hip-hop has become more marginalized than ever, with labels deciding that it simply can’t be sold in the way an arguably culturally appropriating artist such as Fergie, has the ability to (sidenote: Hipster suicidal as it may sound, I actually kind of dig her single, although I think she jacked both Shawnna & MIA’s whole entire steez).
Unless Lady Sov makes a strong enough impact, Lauryn Hill finally returns in full form or a Pharrell takes initiative to find the next Ms. Hill and subsequently throws his full support behind this artist, then the female emcee in general, and the black female emcee in particular, will soon be a thing of the past. No worries though; little white, brown and black girls will still have people like the wanna be Vida Guerras in a rap video to take an example from.
from 7th Wonder’s “Daisy Lady“
Queen Latifah – “Just Another Day”
Herb Alpert’s “Making Love in the Rain“
Queen Latifah – “Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children”
from Dennis Coffey’s “Scorpio“
Yo Yo – “Black Pearl”
from All The People’s “Cramp Your Style“
Lauryn Hill – “Sweetest Thing”
from Rhythm Heritage’s “Theme from SWAT“
Fugees – “The Score”
from Cymande’s “Dove“
MC Lyte – “Lil’ Paul”
from Detroit Emeralds’ “You’re Getting A Little Too Smart“
MC Lyte – “Bad Sister”
from Whatnauts’ “Help is on the Way“
[Palms Out is on MySpace]
3:25 pm on September 20th, 2006
you forgot about uffie. gotta look outside the box… the female mc might be suppressed in the US, but people in europe love a strong female rap… like a roxanne shante type rapper for instance… check out uffie, i know haldan’s gotta be down with her.
4:09 pm on September 20th, 2006
I read the article also and the thing that struck me was that they ignored the one female MC that could arguably be considered the most successful, Missy Elliot. I think she should be what record companies use as the templant for other female MC’s. She doesn’t ignore her sexuality, but she doesn’t use it as her act and she never really has. She has been sort of the updated b-girl. It really surprised me that in the entire article she wasn’t mentioned once. Wierd.
5:08 pm on September 20th, 2006
Interesting point…Missy Elliot was mentioned in the discussion @ Lehigh, but I think one of the reasons why she subconsciously took a backseat in the Scratch article, and in my mind even, was because as Joan Morgan & MC Lyte pointed out, the industry unfortunately looks at her as an exception. The choice of the marketing approach by Elektra for Missy, I would imagine, only happened grudgingly- she had to put in YEAAAAAARS of songwriting/production work before people would give her a shot. After a certain point, Missy had garnered enough credibility and a following to be worth having on a roster, so I think label execes left it up to her largely to just be creative since they came to the conclusion that she did not, and does not, fall into the beauty standards of the day.
With Eve reportedly venturing into more Gwen Stefani type territory over Pharrell’s production on her upcoming lp, Eve (musically, I’m not taking her acting into account) might eventually make it into emcee/something else type category also. Maybe not. Either way, I feel that labels (at least here in the states) have the tendency to gravitate towards the easiest angle, and that if the dopest female rapper ever was discovered tomorrow and she looked like Beyonce, she would be in for an extremely tedious and uphill fight to make sure the record label didn’t pressure her to exploit the obvious and to leave it up to skills.
And james, thanks for the tip. I checked out a few of Uffie’s tracks and I’m most impressed by the production actually, both the beats and rhyme cadences are heavily old school influenced, which is dope. I can’t front though- I dig the sounds, but it doesn’t quite move me in the same way that a Lauryn Hill “Final Hour”, Foxy Brown’s “Come Fly With Me”, “Open Book” and “BK Anthem”, or a Lil’ Kim “Whoa (My N**gas)” does
11:12 pm on September 20th, 2006
come back and rap for me roxanne
5:59 pm on October 2nd, 2006
what kind of jumps out at me is that you actually care about the colour of the female emcee. i thought music is music. and expression is expression. as KRS once said, ” a dope emcee is a dope emcee”… perhaps you shouldn’t get distracted with the whole colour bit? and just narrow it down to female emcee. because honestly, in this day and age, it doesnt matter anymore.
4:19 pm on October 4th, 2006
“what kind of jumps out at me is that you actually care about the colour of the female emcee. i thought music is music. and expression is expression. as KRS once said, ” a dope emcee is a dope emcee”… perhaps you shouldn’t get distracted with the whole colour bit? and just narrow it down to female emcee. because honestly, in this day and age, it doesnt matter anymore.”
Weird, I didn’t really notice a mention of “the colour of the female emcee.” Especially since he mentioned Lady Sov… a white female emcee.
Oh well.
Yo, Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz… Haha, I’m feelin’ that! Steely Dan “Black Cow” Aja… hope to see that one on the next visit to original breaks!
As always, thanks for the music.
1:03 am on October 5th, 2006
p.s. color matters.
10:59 pm on October 14th, 2006
why does colour matter? oh and here. re-read the article please.
“In any case, those particular pairings were mentioned to point out that the black male hip-hop producer is being promoted and marketed as a desirable brand, yet there are virtually no black female voices coming from a hip-hop perspective that are being sold in a similar way.”
“The black female voice in hip-hop has become more marginalized than ever, with labels deciding that it simply can’t be sold in the way an arguably culturally appropriating artist such as Fergie,”
;) in case you get lazy.
11:24 pm on November 5th, 2007
ill female emcee, justice http://www.myspace.com/andahlucia