In 1981, Saturday Night Live featured MC Sha Rock – the first female
rapper to appear on national broadcast TV. In 1984, 14-year-old rapper
Roxanne Shante recorded the first battle response in hip hop history. By
1988, MC Lyte was the first solo female rapper to release her own
full-length album, Lyte As A Rock. “It destroys (hip hop) culture not to
have the perspective of women,” Lyte once remarked after asking for the
reinstatement of a female-specific awards category at the Grammys.
Lyte’s words permeate the entire history of the genre, from her early days
rapping about growing up as a girl in Brooklyn, to Missy Elliott’s recent
induction as the first female rapper into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Women added a new dimension to hip hop culture, with their ruthless
approach to sexual liberation, body positivity, and equality which
counterbalanced the genre’s misogyny. Today, their influence lives on in
the fact that we are still so enamoured by the early women of hip hop,
from the distinct spiritual essence of Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill, to the
persistent feminist legacy of Missy and Lil Kim.
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