Many would debate that the the female rap game has been fairly quiet the past few years, with the exception of a certain self proclaimed Barbie leading the forefront.
However with the recent release of Remy Ma after a six year jail stint, Aussie bred ‘Fancy’ starlet Iggy Azalea rocketing to the top of the charts with her hit single, and rap royal Lil Kim just coming off of maternity leave and seemingly gunning to re-claim her spot atop the throne, and even Lil Mama dropping material over the past few weeks, its quite apparent that the competition for the reigning queen of hip hop spot is at an all time high.
Back in May Forbes published an article titled “Hip Hop Is Run By A White, Blonde, Australian Woman” which caused a frenzy among hip hop lovers, particularly fans of Nicki Minaj, who the article blatantly jabbed at. Iggy has been on her come up for some time now, but 2014 was undoubtedly her year thanks to the infectious single ‘Fancy’ which made history on the Billboard Hot 100 breaking the record for the longest-leading No. 1 by a female rapper. A titled once held by Lil Kim, who spent five weeks at No. 1 with the all-star collaboration “Lady Marmalade” in 2001.
The femcee was nominated for ‘Best Female Rap Artist’ at this years BET Awards and many thought she would be the champion, however Minaj took the title for the fifth consecutive year in a row. Despite this, Iggy is still nominated for several awards at this years MTV Video Music Awards, has landed movie roles including a cameo in the upcoming ‘Fast & Furious 7’ and her star continues to grow day by day making her a viable candidate for raps best “new” female, but queen not so much.
Then there is Remy Ma, who had just released her first debut solo album ‘There’s Something About Remy’ in 2006 just months before she was hauled off to prison for shooting her then best friend, over a personal dispute.
At that time Remy was the up and coming female in the game, and had gained a lot of buzz for her vicious skills and lyrical annihilation of most of her competitors. Remy was backed by her rap crew The Terror Squad and rapper Fat Joe. The crew reigned the air with their mega hit single ‘Lean Back’ which laid the groundwork for Remy to have a successful run alone. Her album generated momentum with the singles ‘Whateva’, ‘Conceited’ and ‘Feels So Good’ feat. Ne-Yo. still Rem was unable to capture the attention of the masses yet still was able to remain a mainstay on the radars of Hip Hop taste makers. After her release just days ago, fans were treated to the first new Remy material since her incarceration when she dropped the remix to the DJ Khaled track ‘They Don’t You No More’. The track easily reminded, that Rem certainly hasn’t lost a step, and has us excited for what 2014 has in store for her.
Just weeks after having her first child, raps original Queen Bee Lil Kim came out of musical hibernation this week with the unveiling of her take on Beyonce’s ‘Flawless (Remix)’ , ‘Identity Theft’, ‘Hot Nigga’ and presumably more to come as the days go on. Kim’s sudden return and music has social media in a frenzy with many on both sides against and for Kim. It appears Kim is ready to stop playing around and get back to business, and hopefully the momentum from the buzz amassed by these singles will do just that.
Still with all this, one can not forget that Kim has made many a promise to her long devoted fans, (here at this site included) only for them to be blindsided with extensive delays, mishaps, and excuse after excuse. One can only hope that motherhood coupled with the new breed of females lighting fire under her, will ignite Kim’s love for her craft and get her back to the essence of the Kim that fans grew to love and have supported for over a decade, the one that actually delivered, and effortlessly at that.
With all that said, who has the strongest chance of being the reigning queen of Hip Hop, or the better question we pose would be, can all the females be the Queen in their own right??
