When I was in middle school, Nicki Minaj was always in my earbuds, whether it was to help me dance or cry. My sophomore year of high school was set to Cardi B., Flo Milli and Latto, and Megan Thee Stallion kept the summer of 2020 light during the pandemic.
Girl rap has been key to the soundtrack of my life since I was 11 years old. There has always been something cathartic about listening to the female experience in a male-dominated genre.
Women are showing up in rap much faster than they were in the late 2000s and early 2010s. XXL Magazine’s Freshman Class list has long been a gauge of who is worth watching in the hip hop scene.
Between 2007 and 2017, there were only four women selected to be a part of XXL Magazine’s Freshman cover. From 2018 to now, 18 women have found a place in the Freshman Class. While no cover has ever had more than three women, the increase in female faces shows exactly how popular girl rap is becoming.
Yet, while XXL — one of the most dominant voices in what’s hot in music — acknowledges the importance of female artists with their Freshman Classes, I still see men who insist on skipping any Glorilla song that comes over the speakers.
I wonder why I rarely see women who have a problem listening to men rap, but most men refuse to appreciate hip hop from a female voice.
Glorilla, one of the most talented new artists in my opinion, dropped her latest album, “GLORIOUS,” last Friday, receiving praise for its production diversity from Complex Music. “GLORIOUS” features a variety of collaborations, from gospel artist Kirk Franklin to controversial girl rapper Sexyy Red.
Instead of enjoying her unique Memphis cadence on “HOLLON” or even her gospel rap “RAIN DOWN ON ME,” haters still found their way into Complex’s comments.
One male Instagram user said, “All the men saying the album fire, go to the ladies’ room. It had completely nothing men should be proud of.” Without even giving specific details, it is clear some men refuse to appreciate girl rap for the sake of its femininity.
Girl rap haters always say that the music is too sexual or too focused on women living single lives. But male rappers talk about casual sex and objectify women in their music all the time.
Drake — once arguably the most popular artist in the world — was a part of “F**kin’ Problems” with A$AP Rocky, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar. His DJ Khaled-produced hit “For Free” is about nothing but sex.
These songs were club anthems and even found their way to the radio after their release. No one (except maybe soccer moms of five) batted an eye. But when Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B took over the internet with “WAP,” I remember hearing male classmates bash the song almost daily.
People critical of the song used it to diss all of girl rap, as if Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s one inappropriate hit made them bad at music in general.
For one, if “WAP” wasn’t a catchy listen, it would never have broken the first-week streaming record and debuted at number 1 as certified gold. Second, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion both have other songs that have soared to popularity without being as explicit, like “Bodak Yellow” and “Savage,” respectively.
To me, the root of girl rap hate is abundantly clear. While male artists are graded on their ability to flow to a beat, women are written off because of how sexual their music is.
It is not 1920 anymore. Women have so much to give to music, and it is time that popular culture shifts away from the gender-biased comparison system we use in rap today. Amounting female rappers only to their sexual content perpetuates the idea that women are only valuable if they are “pure.”
There is no reason female rappers should be forbidden from lyrical content that men get to profit from with no questions asked. Let girl rappers do their thing. Women deserve to be listened to for their ability, just like men.
Graphic by Livi Davis.