Show 9 - All My Ladies: Celebrating Women's History Month - Women in Hip-Hop

I've been sitting on this show idea since December when I read this Slate article about the historical and contemporary dearth of female MCs. Turns out March is Women's History Month, so I finally had a timely opportunity to explore the contributions that women have made to hip-hop. I started off with Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" as an ode to hip-hop's roots in reggae music (I think it's fair to look at the reggae toast as the progenitor of rapping) and played cuts from legends like MC Lyte and up-and-comers like Dessa (pictured) of Minneapolis' Doomtree collective.

I had to do a lot of research for this show, which is pretty sad given that I am a woman of color with a deep love of hip-hop. But I was pleased to discover that I had more than enough truly phenomenal material for a one-hour show. In fact, something that I found interesting was that a lot of the albums by female MCs from the '80s appealed to me more than albums from their better-known male contemporaries, and I generally as a rule dislike anything from the '80s.

Most of mainstream hip-hop, like a lot of other music, has taken a turn for the worst in terms of quality and having anything interesting or thought provoking to say. The contrast between MC Lyte and Trina is striking. While I admire (to a certain degree) rappers like Lil' Kim who rough and tumble with the boys, I can't say they are necessarily helping the cause of advancing the female MC as something deserving of the respect granted their male counterparts and their rightful place as an integral part of the hip-hop movement. This is why I'm excited about MCs like Dessa and Jean Grae who are multi-dimensional, quick witted, incisive and, perhaps most importantly, extraordinarily talented. And not talented for a female MC, as some might be tempted to say, but as talented as any other MC on the mic today.

Show 9 - Female MCs
9 March 2009

1. Sister Nancy - "Bam Bam," One, Two
2. Mic Break: M.I.A. - "Paper Planes (Instrumental)," Paper Planes (Homeland Security Remixes)
3. Roxanne Shanté - "Roxanne's Revenge," Roxanne's Revenge
4. Missy Elliott - "Izzy Izzy Ahh," Supa Dupa Fly
5. Salt-N-Pepa - "Doper Than Dope," Blacks' Magic
6. The Conscious Daughters - "Not Bad But Good," The Nutcracker Suite
7. Lady Sovereign - "I Got You Dancing ...," Jigsaw
8. Mic Break: Eve - "Satisfaction (Instrumental)," Satisfaction (Single)
9. Dessa - "Mineshaft," False Hopes E.P.
10. Mystic - "Once a Week," Cuts For Luck and Scars For Freedom
11. Jean Grae - "This World," Jeanius
12. MC Lyte - "MC Lyte Likes Swingin'," Lyte As a Rock
13. Rah Digga - "What They Call Me," Dirty Harriet
14. Queen Latifah - "Wrath of My Madness," All Hail the Queen
15. Lauryn Hill & the Refugee All-Stars - "The Sweetest Thing (Instrumental)," The Sweetest Thing
16. Lauryn Hill - "Doo Wop (That Thing)," The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill