There has always been a shortage of female artist in mainstream hip hop, and I'm not talking about female artist who sing hooks and feature in duets like in the early 2000's, I mean there are very few popular female artist who rap.
If I had to name female rappers that have been on the radio in the past 4 years I could say Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Bhad Bhabie, and City Girls. I'm not counting Lizzo and Doja Cat because neither artist is dominantly a rapper.
I often find myself listening to Noname, Rapsody, or Teirra Whack and wonder...why are these women not dominating rap right now? I sat down and researched every reason I've heard over the years and there's more reasons than we believe. So here is a breakdown of why I believe women in rap have it so hard...
King of the Hill mentality
"There's only enough space for one of us to shine".This annoys me the most simply because it doesn't exist in any other genre, and definitely doesn't happen to their male counterparts.
I remember when Cardi B was starting to garter mainstream attention, the headlines typically sounded like this "Cardi B: The New Queen of Rap", "Is Nicki Minaj's Reign Over?", and "Move Over Nicki, Cardi B Has Arrived".
Those headlines all came from ONE SINGLE!!!
I'm not a Nicki Minaj fan, but to completely write-off her contributions to the genre is disrespectful, it's even more disrespectful to end the career of one artist because a new artist (who is completely different) is making waves.
Women in rap have the worst fan base of all time...
Women in rap have a lot of their fan base erased if they are not found attractive, they also have to be even more talented than most men in the genre (or subgenre) in order to garter new fans, and even worse, women that listen to mainstream hip hop aren't very supportive of new female rappers unless they already have mainstream support.
There's plenty of reason behind this though...
Women who enjoy rap typically listen to more genres than men who enjoy rap. So women are able to find the message or "vibe" they want in various genres rather than seeking multiple artists in one.
For example, if a woman likes City Girls, she won't need another female rapper for when she wants to hear gripping lyrics about internal struggles, she'll listen to SZA, Beyonce, Adele, Kehlani, or whoever. But for men who enjoy rap music, they will attempt to find an artist for each situation. They guy who likes Jay Z for lyrics may also listen to YG or Migos in order to turn up.
There is also another side to this, the side of women who DO desire their favorite female artist to be diverse. There have been numerous tweets and articles about how Nicki Minaj's music needs to mature with her age. But these same people won't allow their beloved artist to get better at making the music they've been making and just seek another artist to fill their lyrical and storytelling needs.
We all know what kind of artist Cardi B is, we know the purpose City Girls' music serves, so don't expect these ladies to turn into the female J. Cole and Outkast just because they have gotten older...there's other artist out there providing that content already. Unfortunately the artists who provide deeper content are usually not delivered to the mainstream listener.
The Rick Ross Theory
Now here's a reason that makes me feel all gross inside, and I will call it the Rick Ross Theory. In a Breakfast Club interview Rick Ross was asked would he consider signing a female rapper to his label, he initial response was mixed, and later became a "no" because of these conditions...
1. He would have to be attracted to her
2. Rick Ross would have to sleep with the female artist because he's "spent so much on her".
If this doesn't make your stomach turn you have a problem...He later added that he would be so focused on the business side of their relationship he wouldn't have time for her drama after sleeping with the female artist multiple times.
Imagine if he said this about his male artist as well, this would mean Rick Ross would have slept with Wale, Meek Mill, Pill, Stalley, Torch, and Gunplay just for them to be on the label.
Artist, label owners, and tastemakers alike shouldn't hinge their support of a women on what she can provide for them physically, or how fine she is, it should solely be based on music and the business surrounding it. What makes this so much worse is that Rick Ross's statement went unchecked while on air at the Breakfast Club, almost as if they understood his reasoning.
This concept that I have coined as the Rick Ross Theory is extremely troublesome, and sounds a lot like solicitation. "You can rap, as long as I'm smashing" is a contract no one should have to even consider, and also leads into another reason why women struggle in hip hop...
I have more reasons to go, but to prevent these articles from turning into thesis papers, I have split this topic into two parts...
Feel free to let me know what you think of part 1 and don't forget to share this with your friends and family!
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