Female Rappers Vs Trap Queens

Trap music is a genre that has gained quite a bit of traction and momentum through the ever growing sub-genres of dance music culture and more specifically hip hop. When talking about the “originators” of the trap music sub genre you have to mention the likes of T.I, Young Jeezy, Three 6 Mafia and Manny Fresh.

Now, being a sub-genre, or if you like, a sub culture of hip hop, then what is hip hop you may ask? Hip-hop music, also called hip-hop or rap music is a genre developed in the United States by inner city African Americans and Latino Americans in the Bronx borough in New York City in the 1970s. While often called rapping, a steady flow of words is spun sort of like a poem and is spoken out to a beat. Now, as far as the history of hip hop goes, in a nut shell, hip hop was used to primarily to uplift the black people as this was a time where they were reeling in squalor and poverty because their time the United States had not been one of prosperity. They had gotten there as slaves and now as they were coming out of the clutches of this they were under yet another foot that was racism. This somehow cascaded the entire people into the grimes of the country resulting in them being swallowed by the monster that is gang violence.

So then, enter a young man by the name of Clive Campbell, also and better known as Kool DJ Herc, who is credited with being the Adam of hip-hop. He developed a blueprint for hip-hop music and culture reposed on the Jamaican tradition of toasting. He originated hip-hop at the young age of thirteen. Towards the beginning of the 1970s, Kool DJ Herc started organizing dance parties in his home.

This is almost entirely a story of inspirations. Afrika Bambaataa created a street organization following him being inspired by Kool DJ Herc, called Universal Zulu Nation, centered on hip-hop, as a means to draw teenagers out of gang life, drugs and violence.

Back when hip-hop was just a baby or so to speak, female rappers were essential to its anantomy, detailing their experiences without apology about the world they lived in.

From the beginning, hip-hop was a form of storytelling. Male and female rappers used word play, repetition, and extended metaphors to relate experiences that were dark, violent, romantic, hopeful, casting themselves as a witness, hero or seer.

However, as is with anything in the music industry, what with the culture of marginalizing the contributions of women making hip-hop primarily known as a boys club. But even in its origin days as people were still dismissing hip-hop as a passing fad, female rappers were beginning to make up formidable arguments for themselves by the content they were churning out. With the likes of MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Salt-N-Pepa, Bahamadia, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, Lauren Hill just to mention but a few.

These are names that resonate the world over because of their prowess in the art. Now, just like in any art form, there will be the ones who use the art for good and some well, some choose to use their talents in other ways. Following their steps therefore will come a new age of which both sides will have trained “protégées”. And so therefore as it were, from the golden ages of rap music, the likes of Queen Latifah and Lauren Hill had young women wanting to go to school, to better themselves as members of society through the mind. Salt-N-Pepa and even more recently Foxxy Brown and Lil Kim, had a different approach to their music, they used the famous sex sells mantra to gain fandom. Their raunchy lyrics coupled with their raunchy outfits were an unseen side of the female gist and they took the world by storm.

Lil Kim, in her hey days famously rapped “got buffoons eatin’ my pu__y while I watch cartoons” and well the rap world was in two ways about it, but this kind of flow was the gate way to what is almost common the female rap world, or rather, as the evolution took place, the trap queen world.

A trap queen is easily distinguished as the modern female rapper, with the signature raunchy lyrics and costumes to match, just as was initiated by the pioneers. They are heard to openly pride themselves in sexual behavior and sometimes with multiple partners. A statement that has raised two arguments, for the more “decent” person, the argument that they are using the platform to instill negative traits in their children. The other voice arguing, that their male counterparts are doing the same thing without reprimand and so they are in their own way fighting for gender equality.

So therefore we now have the Cardi Bs, Nicki Minajs, the Janelle Monaes, the Remmy Mas, the Steff Londons of the new age rap game that is trap. Different styles from around the globe and all calling for fandom. Where Cardi B and Nicki Minaj are openly centered on sexualizing their music with themselves as the main attraction, the likes of Janelle Monae dare to divert attention completely from their sexuality as a selling component. At least that’s what it looks like from the fans side of things.

Following the debate n social media will clesrly show you the two sides of the fandom with things like “Cardi B is lucky to have come in a time when the generation’s girl’s pride and flaunt their hoe* side” being said to justify why Cardi B is collecting awards left right and center and selling in the millions.

The Latino trap queen is not shy about this and famously goes to the internet to openly brag about her days as a stripper and even about the shenanigans that they would or rather she would get into. Coming to her own defense she says that she is not ashamed of who she was because it is part of what made her who she is today.

So does this then mean that the age of the female rapper is slowly reaching its end? As more and more trap queens come up you cant help but think about the greats and their message to the masses. One of the most vocal in them was Queen Latifah who was one of the earliest female rappers in hip-hop. The Native Toungues collective was which she was a part of was largely known for their socially conscious, largely positive lyrical content, but Queen Latifah made a name for herself talking about issues in the lives of black women. Songs like “Ladies First” and “UNITY”, which discussed domestic violence, street harassment and the need for coalition-building between females, made the New Jersey native a powerful voice for change.

Another female rapper in the Native Tongues was Monie Love, curiously or maybe not, she and Queen Latifah became friends when the group travelled to the UK for a show and met the British rapper who had in her own accord been making a lot of noise in the underground scene there. Monie Lovie eventually joined Native Tongues in New York where she collaborated with Latifah in “Ladies First”. She later released her own album with songs such as “Monie in the Middle” and “RU Single” both slyly and cleverly striking back at expectations and assumptions about black women in relationships without sacrificing the flow.

Even the raunchy Salt-N-Pepa group was known to be formidable warriors in the good fight for women. With songs such as “Push It”, “Let’s talk about sex”, “Do you really want me” and “Shoop”, they were very frank and quite outspoken about their desires and their sexuality, while simultaneously demanding respect, preaching feminist values and speaking out against assault and discrimination.

Are these values that we can say that the trap queen has or instills or even preaches? This is the question isn’t it? So again I ask, has the age of the female rapper who spoke out for the common folk come to an end or is it on its death bed as the trap queen who sexualizes themselves and talks vainly only of herself borrowing a leaf from her counterpart the trap king?

Perhaps this is so, or perhaps we are yet to see the true colors of the female rapper. Also very possible is the natural death of the trap queen as the genre continues to grow and evolve in itself creating new characters when it does.

For now, we have to sit and enjoy the antics of the trap queen as she is the modern representative of what the world currently is as is music in general. A direct depiction of what is the social condition in whichever it originates.

Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves isn’t what the musicians are depicting but what the art form is mirroring about where our society is actually at.