10 Best Female MCs

The Women & Hip Hop Conference held in Montreal got me to thinking about the state of hip hop and female MCs on a whole.

For a few years, it appeared that the female MC is rare like an endangered species. In some ways, they might be.

There is the issue of there being too few to listen to today. If and when I take notice of a female MC, I treasure them like a worker for wildlife preservation.

My enjoyment for female MCs is two-fold. As it should be clear through multiple posts, I love female vocalists. Their voices are pleasing to my ears. If a lady is lyrical, I’m in even more bliss.

From my days of discovering hip hop in the late 1980s to not caring much about it now, I am nostalgic and reflective and decided on finding out just who have been my favorite ladies on the microphone.

Below are the female MCs I consider to be the 10 Female MCs that I've been blessed to have heard.

MC Lyte 

The Lady of Rage 

  Lauryn Hill 

Tiye Phoenix 

 Shawnna 

Queen Latifah

 Rah Digga 

Missy Elliott 

Jean Grae

 Salt-N-Pepa

 

I dedicated one of my former radio show playlists to female MCs of the 1990s glory days of hip hop.

Please make yourself familiar with below to bring you up to speed.

Visit the Mixcloud page to listen and the Podomatic site to download.

The Suite Delight - 2014-09-09 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - 2014-09-09 Playlist:

1. Nikki D - Lettin' Off Steam
2. Michie Mee & L.A. Luv - Jamaican Funk
3. Roxanne Shanté - Have A Nice Day
4. Salt-N-Pepa - Tramp
5. The Fugees - Ready Or Not (Salaam's Ready For The Show Remix) 
6. Bahamadia - 3 Tha Hard Way
7. Gang Starr - You Know My Steez (3 Men And A Lady Remix) feat Kurupt & The Lady of Rage 
8. Flipmode Squad – We Got Cha Opin (Part 2)
9. LL Cool J - I Shot Ya (Remix) feat Prodigy, Foxy Brown, Fat Joe & Keith Murray 
10. Queen Latifah - Inside Out
11. Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce - It's My Beat
12. MC Lyte - I Cram 2 Understand U

Def Jam Recordings Tribute

The first hip hop album I ever bought on my first solo trip to downtown Montreal was a Def Jam release. For them to be among my Twitter followers today is an honor I would never have dreamed.

While trying to prepare the playlist for the podcast below, I browsed online looking for some form of inspiration to hit me.

I stumbled across word of Def Jam Recordings label celebrating 30 years.  I naturally grabbed an hour's worth of Def Jam classics and presented some of them on my radio show.

Thank you and congratulations to Def Jam for defining hip hop music and culture for over 30 years.

Thank you for checking out Def Jam Recordings Tribute.

Visit the Mixcloud page to listen to them and more.

The Suite Delight - Def Jam Recordings Tribute by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - 2014-10-21 Playlist:

1. Ghostface Killah - Daytona 500 featuring  Raekwon & Cappadonna
2. Nice & Smooth - The Sky's The Limit
3. Davy DMX - One For The Treble
4. EPMD - Give The People (Erick & Parrish Remix)
5. Slick Rick - It's A Boy (Remix)
6. Nikki D - Hang On Kid
7. Nas - Memory Lane 
8. Public Enemy - Can't Truss It
9. Jay-Z - Sunshine featuring Babyface & Foxy Brown 
10. Redman ‎– It's Like That (My Big Brother) featuring K-Solo
11. LL Cool J ‎– To Da Break Of Dawn
12. 3rd Bass - Product Of The Environment (Project Remix)
13. Method Man - The Riddler