From Cardi B to Megan Thee Stallion to City Girls to Noname to Rico Nasty, the list of Black femme* rappers goes on and on. These femcees like those who came before them are major forces within the rap industry, but are still not centered in conversations surrounding hip-hop and rap. The term femcee to refers to black feminine-identified rappers. These rappers are no longer an “exception” to a male-dominated industry, but rather the exceptional standard to Hip-Hop, and have been since its inception.
They continue to inspire a generation of young femcees and DJs to follow in their footsteps.We interviewed three of the up-and-coming Black femcees and DJs in the East Bay and in the Peninsula on their processes, inspirations, and future hopes for representation of Black femme rappers in the industry.
*We use the term femme to encompass the complexities of gender identification.
Special thanks to Linda Sol, Jada Imani, and Véronicka Bacchus.
