Hip-Hop has been a male-dominated genre since its inception in the 1970s on the streets of the South Bronx.
However, female emcees were looking over the horizon and soon crept into the game. From MC Lyte to Salt-N-Pepa, female rappers proved that they had the skill to hang with their male counterparts. They enforced a message of unity to gain the respect that they rightfully deserved.
The summer of 1997 came along with an anthem that spoke multitudes on female strength. Lil Kim, Missy Elliott, Angie Martinez, Da Brat and Left Eye released “Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix)” that would begin to level the playing field amongst the “sisters” in hip-hop. But over the years, women in hip-hop have strayed away from that blueprint of banding together and rhyming as one taut force. All-female rap collaborations are few and far between.
So we ask, with the current state of women in hip-hop and on the backdraft of an “I Wanna Be Down” BET reunion (watch that below), could there be another massive “Ladies Night” collaboration? If so, who would be essential to include?
The apprehensive answer is yes, because there are crucial players already occupying the field. But let's hypothesize on if we were to build a new-age "Ladies Night" all-female collaboration. Starting from the ground up, peep the galleries above to see the key female players.