“Whatever happened to the MC? Times done changed for the MC.
Every woman and man wanna MC, but for what? I tell ya, MC-in aint for you.”

That line comes from De La Soul’s “Supa Emcees” on the Stakes is High album from 1996. That’s 14 years ago but this line is more relevant than ever. To my opinion, the “golden era” of Hip Hop is somewhere between 1988 and 1993. So for that song to come out in 1996 it was already starting to make sense. But again, its makes even more sense today. What ever did happen to the MC? And no I don’t wanna make this a blog complaining about there’s no real Hip Hop out there anymore, cause there is, trust me. I mean, look at the amazing artists I come across and do interviews with just to put them out there for people to see that there still is dope music, and fresh too.

So yeah, this is not a blog about how there is no real Hip Hop. We all have noticed the change in the music genre of Hip Hop from more underground towards more commercial. The bigger audience is now “hip to it” which means the popularity and therefore the changes within the music itself are shifting. Correction: Have shifted. What I’m wondering though is, where is the line between Hip Hop and Pop?  Can you call something Hip Hop just because there’s a “rapper” doing a song? And then we have the everlasting discussion about the difference between a rapper and an MC.

One of the things that bothers me is this whole Nicki Minaj hype. No offense to Nicki or her fans but surely we can’t think of her as the rolemodel female MC for today? Since when are overdressed (or should I say underdressed?) and face-painted Barbie dolls that “talk” over a beat, MC’s? I hear alot of people talking about how she “jacked” Lil Kim’s style. Maybe as far as her gimmick looks go, but back in the day, Kim had lyrics and flow. Not to mention Foxy Brown. She looked sexy but didn’t overdo it like Kim did and Foxy was pretty nice on the mic.

A while ago I read an article online. It was a battle between Nicki Minaj and Lola Monroe. I had never heard of last mentioned at ALL, which made me curious what the big deal was seeing neither of them are really that interesting to be having some beef or a battle. After I checked some of the video’s they put in the article for people to vote, I was just shocked by the trash they call music. It looked more like its a competition on who got the bigger ass, the fakest hair, the most make up and the wackest flow. Neither are ANY rolemodel of woman empowerment in my opinion. And talk about Hip Hop? Hip Hop is not even close to being part of this type of stuff.

I am sad that these type of women are supposed to represent female MC’s today, when there are lyricists like Jean Grae, Invincible, Bless Roxwell, StaHHr, Yarah Bravo, Tiye Phoenix and so on, who won’t even get half as much shine in the media like these two “bitches”. (They call themselves that, so why shouldn’t I?) And who clearly follow more in the footsteps of women like MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and Monie Love.

Now I consider the “music” from those particular two “artists” straight up pop music. And there’s nothing wrong with pop music. It’s what the consumer gets fed and chews up like a baby. Society is so concerned about the next generation, the kids running around like fools nowadays. But society loves to put things out there like Nicki Minaj (looking like a prostitute) or a Beyonce dancing around without pants on. (When was the last time Beyonce wore pants in her video’s or on stage, really?) If that’s what the world wants to put out as rolemodels, who are we to complain about what’s good or bad music nowadays or about why our kids are having kids nowadays? Why our daughters look like full grown women at age 14 and dress up half naked as if it’s normal?

When I say “we” I mean us as a society. You may be reading this thinking “Hey, that’s not me”. And I am sure you are not. But the “we” I am talking about is the biggest part of society. Why else do they put such crap for rolemodels out? Cause it sells. Its loved. And who buys it and loves it? Consumer-society. Meaning, us. But how do we change this? Well, like the saying goes “A better world starts with oneself” it kinda applies to this industry as well. If you want good music to “sell” more than the poppy trash, start supporting good music and artists. Stop downloading your favorite artists music. Especially underground artists. BUY their music so the labels also get to see that people like that sell as well.

As far as the artists themselves is concerned, stop throwing out too many free mixapes. Stop throwing out free albums for download. It’s cool and all for your fans who want to listen to your music, but a true fan WILL buy it. Your music will still be spread when you ask a little money for it. How are you going to convince a label, society, that you are an equally good selling artist if you don’t have that to show for cause you are giving away your music?

Don’t get me wrong. Artists that do it for the love and just wanna spread great music, give it out for free all you want. But we all know, that whole “doing it for the love” is kinda outdated with today’s artists. You are pushing to get to that point where you can make money. If you believe in the value of your own art, slap a price tag on it please. I’m getting carried away again.

To try put an end to this mini novel. One of my  other questions that remains is: Why is it still so hard for women in Hip Hop to get recognition? They are already a rarity, but even some of the most hardcore Hip Hop fans I know, have never heard of some of the earlier mentioned women in Hip Hop. If you don’t know, now you now.

As far as MC’s in general is concerned, the whole pop-ularity within Hip Hop makes it so much easier for artists to call themselves an MC. It’s like all the new “music-maker” software out there nowadays. Just because you use it on your computer, it doesn’t make you a producer. Just because you can talk over a beat, it doesn’t mean you’re an MC. And to go back to the definition of an MC, I guess we will have to go all the way back again to the definition of Hip Hop.

Peace & Blessings. <3
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Some dope artists you should check out:

Jean Grae: www.jean-grae.com
Invincible: www.emergencemusic.net/invincible
Bless Roxwell: www.blessroxwell.com
StaHHr: www.myspace.com/stahhr23
Eagle Nebula: www.iameaglenebula.com
Boog Brown: www.myspace.com/bbrownfbgm
Mauikai: www.myspace.com/mauikai
Yarah Bravo: www.myspace.com/yarahbravo
Tiye Phoenix: www.myspace.com/tiyephoenix

I haven’t posted all the dope women I know of, but these are just a few to get up with if you didn’t know about them yet. Also, feel free to post more dope female Hip Hop artists in a comment so we can get up on them as well.