Black Women in Entertainment
All Hail the Queens: 7 female hip-hop pioneers
Historically, women have always been integral to hip-hop. It was Cindy Campbell, DJ Kool Herc’s sister whose birthday inspired the infamous party at 1520 Sedgewick in the Bronx that is considered the birth of hip-hop. It was Sylvia Robinson who signed The Sugar Hill Gang to her label, Sugar Hill Records. She was the driving force behind the first two hit singles in hip-hop.
Yet, women remain marginalized in hip-hop music and culture. They are underpaid, underrepresented, and underrated at every level of the culture. It’s a painful truth not only in hip-hop, but also in the larger society in countless other industries. Still, the historical contributions of women to the culture are tremendous. Female emcees have always moved the culture forward with amazing lyrics, standout feature performances, and overall swag that has helped hip-hop grow and evolve for over 40 years.
Here is a short list of some of the pioneering women of hip-hop:
Salt-N-Pepa
The legendary trio of Salt-n-Pepa (and Spinderella) released their first album Hot, Cool, and Vicious in December of 1986. The album spawned the monster, Grammy-nominated hit, “Push It” which propelled the album to platinum status–the first by a female rap act. Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandy “Pepa” Denton, and Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper became known for developing their own brand of hip-hop feminism by writing lyrics that embraced female sexuality (“Let’s Talk about Sex”, “Whatta Man”, “Shoop”) as well as setting trends with their hairstyles, wardrobe styling, and dance-driven music videos.
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