Can Female MCs Take Over Hip Hop

There was a time when women were mostly relegated to being features but not headliners. That’s changing. Cardi B’s name is way bigger than the majority of male rappers and even twenty years ago, that simply wouldn’t have been conceivable. Today women in the rap game can hold their own as legitimate superstars and not merely members of a larger clique of rappers. Given the rapid progress they’ve made in the recent past, it’s reasonable to wonder whether they can one day take over hip hop.

Venus and Serena Williams helped to usher in the dominance of women’s tennis. Over the past ten years, most casual tennis fans have been far more interested in the women’s tour than the men’s tour. The dominance of the USA women’s soccer team created a similar dynamic in that sport. So why not in hip hop? Further, if the artists that sold the most tour seats, got the most streams and had the largest endorsement deals were women, would that be such a terrible thing? From Salt-N-Pepa to Mix X, Foxy Brown to Trina, Lil Kim to MC Lyte, Da Brat to Missy Elliott, Ladybug Mecca to Queen Latifah, the ground has been laid and just maybe, the future of rap might be female.