Twerking, sick beats and female empowerment. Women are currently making their way to the top in the rap industry–starting to let go of previous stereotypes that pit them against each other. 

In the early days of hip-hop, women were more of a subgenre due to the small amount of female MCs. In recent years there’s been a shift, where social advancements create more space for women to be involved in rap. 

Recently, women have become more recognizable in the genre. Nicki Minaj was the face of female rap for nearly a decade, dominating the field and award shows. Once Cardi B stepped onto the scene with her song “Bodak Yellow” in 2017, the two fought publicly for the spotlight. The feud allowed audiences to feed into the stereotypes that women can’t work together.

The idea that there can only be one female rapper on top has long been ingrained in the public’s mind. Now, artists are standing up to the stereotypes that limit success for women in music. 

Myia Thornton ‘20, a rapper at Berklee College of Music, observes the shift in the industry as she herself rises as a professional. “I can see why [women] felt like there couldn’t be multiple women at the top in the beginning,” says Thornton. “But I believe that everyone attains their own success, there can be multiple women at the top and women in the industry are starting to realize that now. If you look at where it’s going right now I’m very optimistic.”

Even the two women involved in the famous female rapper beef have contributed to this new wave of collaborations. Megan Thee Stallion’s song “Hot Girl Summer” ft. Nicki Minaj reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and “Twerk” by City Girls ft. Cardi B peaked at No. 29.

Megan Thee Stallion, Tierra Whack, and Rico Nasty made history; all three women made the XXL freshman class of 2019, a list of promising newcomers in the rap industry. These professionals are now transforming a male-dominated industry that has long allowed only one female superstar at a time to dominate.

Emerson Professor Cara Moyer Duncan, who specializes in the areas of Africana and cultural studies, says, “The revolution that’s happened in the recording industry in the last ten years or so has created more space for women to decide who they’re going to collaborate with and on what terms...to not see each other so much as a threat but to really see each other as allies.”

Now women are taking control of their careers and changing the norms, lifting each other up and creating chart-topping collaborations.  

Thorton says “I feel like everyone just wants to get along and they’re tired of fighting. I feel like every artist that’s out right now is in their own lane, doing something different. Rico nasty be screaming on the beat, Tierra Whack is really weird, Meghan The Stallion is twerking and stuff. They all have their own thing so I feel like there’s no reason to try to compete.”

Daniele Jean-Baptiste ‘21, president of Emerson College’s hip-hop society, hopes that in the future women in the industry get along and receive more recognition for their talent. “I hope there’s more [collaboration], because I think it’s really easy to fall into the capitalist trickery of pitting people against each other. The idea that there can only be one good female rapper or even the term female rapper, should kinda dissolve. Just say they're an MC, say they can spit because it's about the bars and not about anything else,” says Jean-Baptiste.

In a world where women have to work twice as hard to succeed, it’s easy to get lost in the stereotypes and look to competition as the solution. Professional women in every industry who collaborate with and uplift other women help dispel these stereotypes. 

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This piece appears in the October 2019 print issue of Your Magazine.