Black History Month: Women of Hip Hop Week 3

In this third week of Women in Hip Hop, we expand our view. We look at artists from the Midwest and South, and we also look at individuals we may not immediately think of being in hip hop, but they definitely are. Some songs are more melodic than others and we don’t realize it. Fashion is a huge part of hip hop culture, but who is making those style choices? And who is the most prolific songwriter and producer in the hip hop world? Find out by reading below:

YO-YO (1971-)

Yolanda Whitaker, AKA Yo-Yo, became a protégé of Ice Cube after he heard her rhyme at a block party. She rhymed a duet with him on the single “It’s A Man’s World” in 1990, from his debut solo album “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted”. A key line in the song was Yo-Yo’s response to Ice Cube’s, “Girl, what you tryna do?” She replied, “To prove a black woman like me can bring the funk through.” This theme permeated throughout her career. In her 1991 debut album “Make Way for the Motherlode” she unapologetically decried the misogynoir in hip hop and advocated for women’s empowerment. Her subsequent albums “Black Pearl” and “You Better Ask Somebody” did the same and were received well by critics. Oustide of the studio, Yo-Yo pushed for artists to be more involved in their community. She created a crew dubbed the IBWC, for the Intelligent Black Woman’s Coalition and even testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in her activism. Yo-Yo is the 1990s West Coast counterpart for what Queen Latifah and Moni Love did for the Mid-Atlantic, being an open advocate for Black feminism in the industry.

VINIA MOJICA (1970-)

You have likely heard Vinia Mojica on an album from the 1990s but did not realize it. She is voice of hooks on countless hip hop songs. The Queens, NY native’s vocals and provided a clean, coherent anchor to the verses with which they were intertwined. Her writing/singing career started with 1989’s “Acknowledge Your Own History” by the Jungle Brothers. Soon Mojica would often with the Native Tongues Collective, most recognizably singing the chorus on De La Soul’s “A Roller-Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’”. She wrote and sang hooks and bridges for a solid 20 years, working with hip hop artists like Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Heltah Skeltah. Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek, and Common. Her voice often carried the soul of whatever song she is on.

LIL’ KIM (1974-)

Where Salt-n-Pepa paved the way for female sex appeal in the 1980s, Kimberly Denise Jones took it to the next level throughout the 90s. Lil’ Kim was a protégé of Notorious BIG and member of his crew Junior MAFIA. Instead of trying to mimic her colleagues’ bravado and machismo she embraced her sex appeal and femininity. Her content was derided as too graphic and hypersexual, but most of her critics (including male rappers) said little to nothing about the graphic hypersexual content that many male rappers conveyed. The underlying issue seemed to be that a woman was in control of how she wanted to be seen instead of men dictating how they want to see her. Her first three albums going platinum within weeks of release showed that her audience was fine with her lyrics. Lil’ Kim’s exercise of female body autonomy was an inspiration for dozens of female rappers today who own their sexuality in their lyrics, including Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj, Cupcakke, Cardi B, and Doja Cat. Outside of the studio, she used her platform to advocate for LGBTQ rights, raise money for AIDS research, and animal rights.

MISA HYLTON (1972-)

Misa Hylton did for Hip Hop fashion in the 1990s what Dapper Dan did for the genre in the 1980s, and she would often collaborate with him as well. Hylton is a pioneer who would rarely get credit for the trends she started, even though they would become global phenomena. Hylton starting working in fashion at age 17, assisting wardrobe on a video for R&B group Jodeci. Their signature street look of Timberlands, hoodies, and jeans was a departure from previous R&B appearances of suits and ties, but it made them more popular and pushed their look as a fashion trend. One of her most famous designs is the purple jumpsuit and flower pasty that Lil Kim wore to the 1999 VMAs. Though derided by some at the time, this style was emulated by others in the 1990s through the 21^st Century, as contemporary artists like Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj have emulated the look. She founded Chyna Doll Enterprises at age 21. In 2012 she opened the Misa Hylton Fashion Academy. Hylton is also the fashion designer for Beyonce and Jay-Z’s “Apeshit” video. Hylton calls her style “Hip Hop Glam”, but her detractors in the fashion industry deride it as “ghetto fabulous”, often while copying her style.  She is finally being recognized for the influence she had over the Hip Hop community; she was the subject of the documentary “The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion”, and in 2020 she was honored at Harlem’s Fashion Row, along with April Walker and Dapper Dan. Misa Hylton is currently a global creative partner for MCM, and she launched her fashion collection INC at Macy’s.

LISA LOPES (1971-2002) & TLC

Philadelphia native Lisa Lopes was 1/3 of R&B group TLC. They were Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. Though R&B, Left Eye provided rap verses and bridges for many of their songs. They would grow to great fame, as they stood out for their honesty about the woes of record contracts, their frankness in advocating for safer sex practices, and Lopes’s lyricism that rivaled her contemporaries. As their fame grew, group tensions grew internally and externally. As Left Eye started feeling creatively stifled by TLC’s record company, she started working with other artists with great success. and longed to branch out on her own. Left Eye was planning to work with Death Row Records, even boasting a song with Tupac they recorded before he died. Sadly, Lopes died tragically in a car accident in 2002 in Honduras, leaving behind a legacy that had yet to fully flourish.

DA BRAT (1974-)

Chicago Native Shawntae Harris-Dupart became a professional hip-hop artist in 1992, when she won a rap competition sponsored by MTV. Her prize was meeting teen rap duo Kriss Kross, which led to meeting Jermaine Dupri, who signed her to his So So Def label. From there, Da Brat worked tirelessly, touring and featuring while also fitting time to record and release her debut album “Funkdafied” in 1994. She learned while she was touring that her album went platinum, charted #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the title single reaching #1. This made her the first solo female rapper to achieve platinum status. Throughout the 1990s Da Brat would work with the likes of Mariah Carey, Dru Hill, Lil Kim, Missy Elliott, and Destiny’s Child, all while working on her own material and expanding her successful discogrpahy. Her career stalled in the late 2000s due to some legal troubles involving aggravated assault charges. Today, though, Da Brat is semi-retired and happily married to her wife Jessica Dupart, and and she gave birth to their son in July 2023.

MISSY ELLIOTT (1971-)

Melissa Arnette Elliott has too many titles and accolades to list in one paragraph. She has affected so many people in the hip hop and R&B realm that one could easily play “Six Degrees of Missy Elliott” and reach her within 2 degrees. Missy Elliott has been in the music business since before her platinum selling debut album “Supa Dupa Fly” (1997), being discovered by Jodeci member DeVante Swing in 1991. Elliott is a prolific writer and contributed to the likes of Jodeci, Timbaland, Aaliyah, and Destiny’s Child before she dropped her first album. From 2001 to 2006, she dropped an album every year, each one going gold or platinum. She kept a low profile from 2007 to 2014 partially due to health reasons. In that time she was still able to write and produce music for countless others. Elliott ended her performing hiatus at the 2015 Super Bowl, where she upstaged the main halftime show performer singing her biggest hits “Get Ur Freak On”, “Work It”, and “Lose Control”. Missy Elliott boasts over 200 awards for her work, including 4 Grammy Awards, 8 MTV Music Award, 2 American Music Awards, and 6 BET Awards. In 2019, She became the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, she received an honorary Doctor of Music from Berklee College of Music, and she is the first female rapper to receive MTV’s Video Vanguard Award. She got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021, and in 2023 Missy Elliott became the first female rapper inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Missy Elliott has earned the title Queen of Hip Hop for a reason.