Female MC's: What happened to them

Everyone give a round of applause to BET for finally showing something worth watching!!! My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and Hip Hop is BET's first original documentary and takes a lot at the origin of female rappers and the progress they have made. Rather than focus on the negative aspect that the ladies have taken on, the documentary looked at each individual artist and focused on the future of hip hop.

Artists like MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Yo Yo and Roxanne Shante have paved the way for Nicki Minaj, Missy Elliot, Lil Kim and even Lauryn Hill.  But what have these new artists learned? The documentary even looks at the sexualization of female MC's and what it takes to succeed in the rap game. However, I would have preferred to see the transition that has taken place between then and now. Meaning female MCs in the 90's were not using sex to sell their records nor were their songs filled with sexually explicit lyrics. Take a look at Queen Latifah for example. One of her #1 records is U-N-I-T-Y, the verse alone talks about women being disrespected and called a "bitch". The second verse goes into domestic abuse and learning to walk away from that relationship. That song had such a powerful message and solidified Latifah's position in the game.

Ice Cube was interviewed for the documentary and he said "Females need to focus more on rapping. When they start focus too much on their image, they fall off". Couldn't have said it better. Females constantly complain about the way men treat them or how they are viewed, but what type of image are they portraying? How do we go from MC Lyte to Lil Kim...where did we lose focus in the music and started worrying sex? Take a really close look at the way in which female artists dress now. Lady Gaga goes out the house half naked each time and people love it. Do you even care what she is talking about or are we too caught up in her outfit?

To me being an MC goes beyond rapping and selling albums. You want to paint a story, become an artist and deliver words of knowledge to the masses. Now I may be wrong but music USED to do that and more. Now all they wanna do is kill, sell drugs and rap about how big their chests are (females). One female artist that tried to bring the true essence of being an artist is Lauryn Hill. Lauryn Hill infused rapping, singing and beauty into music. She wasn't talking about walking around naked or how she can make a sprite can disappear in her mouth (Lil Kim). Her lyrics were more like:

Now, now how come your talk turn cold
Gained the whole world for the price of your soul
Tryin' to grab hold of what you can't control
Now you're all floss, what a sight to behold
Wisdom is better than silver and gold
I was hopeless now I'm on Hope road
Every man want to act like he's exempt
When him need to get down on his knees and repent
Can't slick talk on the day of judgment
Your movement's similar to a serpent
Tried to play straight, how your whole style bent?
Consequence is no coincidence
Hypocrites always want to play innocent
Always want to take it to the full out extent
Always want to make it seem like good intent
Never want to face it when it's time for punishment
I know that you don't wanna hear my opinion
But there come many paths and you must choose one
And if you don't change then the rain soon come
See you might win some but you just lost one


Now look at Lil Kim lyrics...tell me we aren't lost:
The moral of the story is this
You aint lickin' this, you aint stickin' this
And I got witnesses, ask any nigga I been with
They aint hit shit till they stuck they tongue in this
I aint with that frontin' shit
I got my own Benz, I got my own ends, immediate friends
Me and my girls rock worlds, some big niggas
Fuck for car keys, and double digit figures
Good dick I cherish, I could be blunt
I treat it like it's precious, I aint gonna front
For limp dick niggas, that's frontin' like they willy
Suck my pussy till they kill me, you feel me?


Where is this generation of future female MC's headed and can we recover from the explicit lyrics to move back into that period of consciousness and upliftment. Besides isn't that what music is for? If I wanted to be hear about your bedroom skills I would watch a porno. And if I cared about you being the baddest bitch (Trina) I would watch Cat Woman. Thanks but no thanks. Get back to the true nature, the origin then talk to me about what you have accomplished. Until then UPS IS HIRING!