FollowMany people ask where are the women in rap/hip hop /grime? Is it an old boys club? We’ve been asking questions like this for years ‘Why Did Grime Never Go Right For Women?’, ‘The ladies are as lyrically talented, bold and as feisty as the men, why aren’t they capturing the attention of the masses?’.
Here is the uber talented Nadia Rose speaking to me for Channel 4 News to kick start 2018.
Actually there are loads of women in grime and rap. There are women pushing and championing the culture daily. Aside from the ladies making the music, there are many in media championing the genre. Ladies like Hattie Collins, Chantelle Fiddy, Rebecca Prochnik and Hyperfrank who really helped push the mainstream press into covering it as a music genre and culture.
The artists are numerous and healthy. So many. Here are just a few talented women making and championing the scene.
Nadia Rose
Ms Banks
Shystie
Amplify Dot
Lady Sovereign
Nolay
Lady Chann
Lioness
Lady Leshurr
Ms Dynamie
MZ Bratt
Paigey Cakey
Steflon Don
Sian Anderson
Julie adenuga
Madam X
A.G
Alia Loren
Flava D
Hattie Collins
Chantelle Fiddy
Rebecca Prochnik
Hyperfrank
Kieran Yates
Many who see the potential in female talent don’t always know how to sell it. Remember when London’s Lady Sovereign signed to Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records? Jay Z had begun searching for urban talent in the UK and signed Lady Sovereign in 2006. The video to her track ‘Love Me Or Hate Me’ became the first by a UK artist to achieve a Number 1 on MTV’s ‘Total Request Live’ show. So it can have impact, but really how would an American know how to sell a very British talent?
Similarly Shystie was one of the most prominent female MCs in the scene and released her major label debut ‘Diamond In The Dirt’ in 2004, which went silver. She is multi-talented. I recall her acting in our ground-breaking Dubplate Drama on MTV Base years back. She was fire in the booth and on screen.
JASMINE WITH NADIA ROSE FOR CHANNEL 4 NEWS.
When we were debating it at this years Rated Awards BBC Radio 1 broadcaster Charlie sloth told me ‘’For me I’m always on the search for that big female mc…I don’t even like segregating them…I think at the moment there aren’t as many as there should be, there are loads trying to do it..its not like football where they won’t get on…a lot of acts are crying out for there to be new and more females, look at Stef and Lady Leshurr , all it takes is for there to be more females who are as consistent as men. There needs to be more of a strong infrastructure around the females”.
Posty the founder of the Rated Awards and CEO of GRM Daily agreed ‘’The women in grime are also cultivating themselves, also in American hip hop there aren’t as many females as males , but one day there will be a UK Nicki Minaj- we now have Stef London. She’s beautiful, talented, has swag and style and looks like a star!’’
UK rap legend Lethal B feels positive abut the female journey ‘’There’s loads of girls coming through, Nadia Rose, Lady Leshur, Stef London, laughter and more…as time goes on there will be many more as there’s so much more out there coming…I’ve seen it!’’.