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sexism in rap: "The Motherf--kin Bitch Era"

© Steve Juon

We owe it all to Sylvia Robinson -- but most people seem to conveniently forget that. She was in her own time a moderately successful R&B singer, but in the early 80's she achieved far greater with her Sugarhill Records label than she ever did in her early career: she singlehandedly paved the way for hip-hop into millions of hands heads and hearts nationwide by tapping the pulse of our desire for rhymes on wax and providing it. The market was like an unformed ball of clay just waiting to be shaped, and she formed it into an empire that for five years dominated the field of rap music and whose impact is still felt to this day. Her label lays credit to the first #1 rap records on the rap, pop, and R&B charts, and Sugarhill artists like Grandmaster Flash are today reverred as hip-hop's pioneers and innovators.

Step from the 80's into the 1990's. Women in rap have probably never enjoyed more success than they do right now. In the past of the genre, women weren't even allowed a voice unless responding to a male or as part of an otherwise all-male crew (Roxanne Shante and the Juice Crew, Sha-Rock and the Funky Four, et cetera). Times have changed, and now the ladies are scoring hits on the charts just as big and bad as the males. Although some have argued that the more popular among them (Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown) have used their sex to sell records, nobody said the music industry wasn't sexist. The fact they can play this sexism to their advantage and bankroll it is a definite power move, and on the flipside there are non-sex oriented MC's like Bahamadia and Lin Que who can drop rhymes and get respect just like the Bad Boys do.

It's probably going to be three to five years though before we really see female DJ's like Pam the Funkstress or producers like Missy Elliott blow the shit up. I'd *like* to see it happen sooner but the irony in this case is that women don't seem to be pushing as hard for the behind the scenes (and sometimes better paying) production and studio jobs as they are to be in the spotlight. Given that hip-hop has been around over 20 years and that women are 51% of the population, one would think there would be as many women ready to step into the Sylvia Robinson role and make some power moves - but by and large this hasn't happened.

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