You might think that women have never been as numerous as they are today in American rap. However, rappers have always been very present in the history of rap, but their important contribution has been minimized, even invisible. In the book Hot, Cool & Vicious, Keivan Djavadzadeh sets the record straight.
Posted on March 12, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.
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Keivan Djavadzadeh does not go all the way to demonstrate that women participated in the advent of commercial rap at the end of the 1970s. From the first chapter, he retraces precisely four distinct paths, those of the rappers – Lady D , Paulett and Tanya Winley, Lady B and the band The Sequence – having released a record in 1979, the year of rap’s record debut.
This chronological plot, which begins with these pioneers, then passes through Queen Latifah, Lil’Kim and Eve, to end with Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, shows the richness of the heritage of these women. A legacy that they are still building today.
PHOTO MIGUEL MEDINA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Rapper Eve, during a show in 2014
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The exercise proposed by Keivan Djavadzadeh also shows that few have done it before him. “The world of rap is dominated by men, as is the case in many other musical fields or professional fields”, explains the researcher, lecturer in information and communication sciences at the University. from Paris 8.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Cardi B during her visit to the Metro Metro festival in Montreal in 2019
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While doing his research, the author noticed that academic works on the history of rap often suggested that women had a “marginal” role. A long-time fan of rap, the one who specializes in the politics of representation in popular music and cultures in the United States, has undertaken to restore female rappers to their rightful place in the story.
Share the throne
The book Hot, Cool & Vicious bears the name of the most popular album of the girl group Salt-N-Pepa, released in the second half of the 1980s. If Keivan Djavadzadeh chose this title, it is because it represents well some of the facets of these women in rap, while “they are often represented as a homogeneous group”. ” [Les membres de] Salt-N-Pepa are also more universal, in addition to being pioneers, ”he emphasizes.
PHOTO FROM INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @SALTNPEPAOFFICIAL
The female hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa, consisting of Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and, originally, Latoya Hanson (later replaced by Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper), rose to prominence in the mid-1980s.
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Salt-N-Pepa marked the industry in the 1980s and 1990s, reaching a very large audience. With this group, others, like Queen Latifah or Roxanne Shanté, are making their mark.
It was at this time that we began to distinguish rappers from rappers, with the term female rappers, which many have tried to get rid of for a long time and still today.
In her historical and thematic timeline, the author demonstrates that when rap fell in popularity in the 2000s, female rappers “were sacrificed”. And when they were able to return to the forefront of the stage, there was only room for one rapper at a time, he emphasizes. It was Nicki Minaj who reigned, “alone at the top” from the turn of the 2010s.
“Rappers have said it, in the record companies, the strategy was the same: it was necessary to dethrone Nicki Minaj, explains Keivan Djavadzadeh. Instead of taking advantage of her popularity to put other female rappers forward, we said she had to be beaten. What the Iggy Azalea, Rapsody, Azealia Banks and others couldn’t do back then.
It was only with the arrival of Cardi B and thanks to digital platforms that the rappers were finally able to free themselves, via SoundCloud, Instagram, Twitter or, more recently, TikTok, to share their music and their character.
Gender and social engagement
Rap is often criticized for the misogynistic content of the comments made by male artists. While qualifying these impressions, the author analyzes in Hot, Cool & Vicious how the rappers have navigated this reality. He also talks about the place of women in gangsta rap, which is often considered insignificant, but whose importance he proves. Keivan Djavadzadeh also traces the political and social speech of the rappers.
Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion of this world are often criticized for being “too sexual”. To better understand their relationship to this theme, the researcher traces the timeline of raps signed by women who talk about sex, Let’s Talk About Sex, from Salt-N-Pepa, to WAP, from Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, to My Neck, My Back (Lick It), de Khia.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHING HOUSE
Keivan Djavadzadeh
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We praise men when they talk about sex in rap, but we blame the women who do.
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Keivan Djavadzadeh
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Cardi B, he said, had also raised the important point of the report to the public. “She recalled that a lot of female rappers talk about other subjects, but that we don’t listen to them as much. […] We can measure it very well, what works best is the rappers who talk about sex. ”
This does not mean that these artists do not express themselves on other subjects, in their words and in their public outings. Women have enabled mentalities to change in hip-hop, notes Keivan Djavadzadeh.
The new golden age
The author speaks of the current period as a “new golden age” for rap recorded by women. There are many female rappers at the top, along with many of their male counterparts. They may not be more numerous than ever, but they are undeniably “much more visible”, says the researcher.
Because history has shown the fragile position in which women have often found themselves, should we fear a possible backlash? You can’t rule out the possibility entirely, admits Keivan Djavadzadeh. “But if one thing can allow us to be more optimistic, it is access to digital platforms,” he adds. Visibility thus democratized, a return to oblivion is much less likely.
Anyway, for now, observes the author, “not a day goes by without a new rapper.” This time it should be impossible to erase them.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY AMSTERDAM
Hot, Cool & Vicious
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Hot, Cool & Vicious – gender, race and sexuality in US rap
Keivan Djavadzadeh
Amsterdam
235 pages
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