Three years ago a poorly made screenshot sent everyone with an active twitter account into a rage. About what? Well, a little known Podcast called, “The Brew” decided to create an official ranking of the 50 greatest rappers of all time.
The list, like the podcast, felt like it came out of nowhere. For starters, most people had never heard of the Podcast, and there was no context for this, there hadn’t been a “Greatest Rapper of all Time” (GOAT) debate in weeks. One day we’re on the bird app, minding our business and arguing about $200 dollar dates and the next thing you know this list is trending. Randomness aside, what drew peoples attention was the artist ranked at number three, Joe Budden.
If you’re of a certain age, you may only know Joe Budden for Podcasting, and that’s not a bad thing. Joe has built a small empire in that industry, and is arguably set the standard for hip hop focused Podcast. There were plenty of other hip hop shows before him, but the content he created with former co-host, Rory and Mal changed the game. When the list came out, Joe had already been semi retired for three years, and while his debut single “pump it up” was a pop hit, he was never able to repeat that success. I mean no disrespect to Budden’s artisty, but he had no business being on that list, especially not above such legends like MC Lye, Rakim, 2Pac, Q-Tip, and Busta Rhymes!
However, as ridiculous as it was to list him in the top three, he wasn’t the most egregious thing on that list. Out of the rich collection of rappers, and Emcee’s who have blessed us with their skills, this list didn’t include a single woman on it. How the hell does something like that happen? For as long as hip hop has been alive, there have been women rapping their asses off, putting out great albums, and pushing the game forward. And if you really love hip hop, and have an appreciation for its rich history, there’s no way you can make a list and not list a single sister. The greatest of all-time list with no women isn’t just flagrant, it’s wrong. But the wonderful thing about Hip Hop is that people with no business commenting on it, are allowed to and even encouraged to share their unsolicited opinions. With that in mind, below are my top Five Dead or Alive, Female Rappers.
Note: I’m not including MC Lyte because arguably she’s GOD TIER Emcee, and at the same level as Hov, Nas, Big, and PAC. Rappers at that level are just different. But just for fun, here’s a one of her more famous diss records.
Queen Latifah - it’s been so long since Queen Latifah put made an album, that this might be some find out she used to rap. Was queen Latifa good rapper? Absolutely, but the Queen didn’t just rap, she rapped well, so well, that she was one of the only female rappers allowed in the rap group, “The Native Tongues.” With five albums under her belt, Queen Latifah also has one of the most successful rap singles of her era with “U.N.I.T.Y” and a critically acclaimed album, Black Reign (arguably a classic). To take it even further, one of my criteria for considering an artist a legend is their battle record. Have they had any beefs, if so, who won, and what did that victory look like? Well, in the mid ’90s, Queen Latifah beefed with Foxy Brown. Spoiler alert, she smoked her with the diss tracks, “Name Callin” part 1 and 2.
Monie Love- Another veteran of the Native Tongues, Monie is an artist a lot of people missed out on. Her career peaked in the late ’80s and she started to become less active musically in the early ’90s and beyond. However, when Monie was active, she was known for her high tempo rap speed, and ability to switch flows in the middle of beats, she was one of the first artist to use her voice as an instrument, a skill that is hard to execute and not often replicated. The best modern example of this is Kendrick Lamar. Anyway, Monie stepped into the industry at a time where women rappers were considered a joke. She earned respect for her ability to out-rap a lot of her peers, and when that got boring, she started getting paid to write their rhymes, she’s ghost written for several artist, and has even written for R&B legend, Babyface.
Rhapsody- I don’t expect a lot of people to know who Rhapsody is, because she’s not what you would call a “Mainstream rapper.” She doesn’t fit the mold of a Nicki Minaj/Cardi B and isn’t an industry manufactured plant-like Igy Azalea. Rhapsody is a dark-skin black woman who could step into a cipher with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, or Benny da Butcher and give them all a run for their money. She is known in the industry for her elite pen, and if you’re ever looking for good music with solid rhymes, you should absolutely check her out. For a point of reference, check out her most recent album (Arguably her best), Laila’s Wisdom.
Lil Kim (Top 30 Dead or alive).- Originally, I didn’t want to include Lil Kim on this list, mostly because it’s become common knowledge that Biggie wrote a lot of songs for her. But even with that on her record, no one can deny Kim’s impact on the game. It’s simple, without Lil Kim’s Hardcore, we would not have Megan the Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer, or even Meg the Stallion. But it’s not just her, Lil Kim built the female rapper blueprint for Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Foxy Brown, Cash Doll, and others. She was women empowerment, and sex positivity before it existed. Additionally, she’s the first female rapper to ever receive Five Mics in the source magazine.
Unfortunately, a lot of people reading this won’t be old enough to remember “The Source” magazine, but it was considered the Bible of Hip Hop. Their album reviews could make or break an artist or album, and a five mic rating was the highest you could receive. In comparison, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, and Biggie’s Ready to Die received 4 and a half stars. Their rating system was internationally respected.
Nicki Minaj (Deeply problematic, but a phenomenal rapper)- Nicki Minaj isn’t just a good rapper, she’s easily one of the top five rappers out right now. Unless your favorite rapper is Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Nas, Lil Wayne, or Eminem, Nicki can absolutely out rap them. I’m sure someone is reading this line, and will debate me, but I’m willing to make the argument. Nicki can punch bar you to death, has multiple flows, knows how to switch her cadence, can rap in and out of the pocket, and still write a hit song. On top of that, she has three really good albums, and arguably one near classic. This is a woman who out rapped Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Rick Ross on her first major feature! Sure, Kanye has ghostwriters, and Ross is good, but isn’t considered an elite lyricist by most people, but she did this on a track that featured Hov, in one of his best lyrical performances that year. What hurts Nicki’s ranking, is that she’s lost every single one of her rap beefs. She took too long to respond to Lil Kim’s Black Friday Diss, When Remy Ma came after Nicki with “Shether” the queens rapper went on a spiral that included a Twitter argument with Trey Songz. Even with that in mind, I would take her against almost any artist, bar for bar.
Honorable Mentions:
Missy Elliot- Missy is possibly the most talented artist on this whole list and has ghostwritten, produced, and composed for almost anyone you can think of. Unfortunately, I think of her more for her R&B/Pop hits than I do Rap. I’m not afraid to be proven wrong, she’s a legend regardless.
Lauryn Hill- If we’re being honest, Lauren has two classic albums, but one of them was a group effort so she can’t get all of the credit, and the second one is possibly one of the greatest albums of all time, but she barely rapped on it.
Remy Ma- Remy came up with Big Pun and Fat Joe, sis can rap her ass off.
Snow Da Product- Yall need to go listen to this sister, she’s been going at it for a couple of years on the West Coast, and she’s the real deal.
Delighted to see Lil’ Kim on your list as I was the GM and ran the promotion department of Big Beat at the time of Junior Mafia and Kim. I can forgive Salt N’Pepa not being in the Top 5 (they are certainly in the top 10) but to have an article without mention of them is an egregious omission. They were the first and it took so much work, love, and persistence to convince Radio and MTV that it was time for female rappers. In other words Salt N’ Pepa broke the glass ceiling making way for all the other ladies you mention. I ran the Promotion dep’t for Next Plateau at the time and being a part of breaking female rappers is my proudest achievement career wise.