July 2, 2004

Female Emcees (and My Blueprint for Hip-Hop Blogging)

So seriously, I've been out of the game for so long, can someone remind me how this hip-hop blogging business works?

Oh yeah, I think I remember the formula now. I unearth some obscure web page that says something clueless about hip-hop, and then fulminate with rage against their cluelessness, milk it for a few snappy wisecracks, and use it as a springboard to pontificate ad nauseum. And, whenever possible, mention some famous person with whom I've discussed the issue.

Here's a breakdown of the recipe:

Step One: Quotation
Step Two: Fulmination
Step Three: Sarcastication
Step Four: Refutation
Step Five: Corroboration (i.e. gratuitous-name-drop-ization)
Step Six: Oh So Witty Summation

And now I will demonstrate, annotating each step, with an atrocity I recently found at CNN.com:

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The first female rapper? The answer is...¹
No, the first woman to release a rap single was not Lauryn Hill or Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Queen Latifah or even Roxanne Shante.

Punk songstress Deborah Harry of Blondie served up the first female voice of rap. In the middle of "Rapture," a song that dominated the airwaves in the early 1980s, Harry launched into a rapid patter of words atop an irresistible beat. The formula, merging street with sexy, proved so powerful that Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown and other female hip-hop stars use it today.

Who the hell wrote this, and what the crap are they yapping about?!?!??² Golly, after watching CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq I would never imagined they could get a story so totally, totally wrong.³

As I'm sure most of this blog's readers will know, the first female emcees who put out a record were in a group known Sequence⁴, made up of Gwendolyn Chisholm aka Blondie (so if you said "Blondie did the first female rap record" you'd be sorta half right), Cheryl Cook aka Cheryl the Pearl (as cited by Kool Moe Dee on "Let's Go," where he mockingly compared LL's voice to hers), and Angie B (now known as R&B diva Angie Stone). Their single "Funk You Up" came out on Sugar Hill about a year before "Rapture."

And just as the Sugarhill Gang were far from the first rappers, Sequence were not the first female emcees by any means. Long before anyone was rapping on wax there were already female voices in the mix, includingPebblee Poo of the Masterdon Committee, Sha Rock of the Funky Four Plus One More (who later performed alongside Debbie Harry as the first rappers ever on Saturday Night Live), and the first all female crew the Mercedes Ladies.

Last Sunday the grand exalted Kool DJ Red Alert⁵ teamed up with my crew of DJs at Table 50 on Bleeker Street, and while he was waiting for his turn to burn G-Man and I asked Red to name the first female emcee he could remember, as a head who was around from the very beginning. He agreed with G that Sha Rock was the best female of the era, but said the first two he remembered seeing were Smiley (presumably the same one from the Mercedes Ladies) and before her a young woman known as "Little Lee" or "Lil Lee," who he said was also Melle Mel's girlfriend in the very early days.

I've never heard of Little Lee before, and neither has Google, but I would damn sure never doubt the Propmaster. Do any of our older readers remember her?

And for real though, does anyone know who I can talk to at CNN about this embarrassment? If CNN is this far off I shudder to think how Fox News would do: "and in 1988 the rap world welcomed a female voice for the first time, with the avant-garde innovations of Paula Abdul on 'Cold Hearted Snake.' Paula's pioneering work paved the way for today's reigning Queens of Rap, Northern State."⁶

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There you go, see how easy that was? It's just like ~~shooting fish in a barrel~~ riding a bicycle!

Posted by jsmooth995 at July 2, 2004 2:45 AM

Comments

welcome back to fold. I have no idea if your facts are right. I've heard other sites say what CNN said about the first female rapper.

Posted by: Hashim at July 2, 2004 11:02 AM

Blondie "Auto-American" album came out in late 1980.. Rapture was the 2nd single from it, released in early 1981..

Sequence's "Funk You Up" single came out in late 1979, as noted in Rhino's liner notes for their reissue and Ego Trip's book or rap lists, among many other places i'm sure

Posted by: Jay Smooth at July 2, 2004 11:24 AM

once again it just goes to show.. ANY history can be rewritten to have a white person be the first to do whatever, especially if a white person is doing the so-called recounting of events.

jay, have you ever seen the cry of jazz? it's a 35 minute b/w short filmed in chicago in 1959. if you haven't, i'm gonna invite you to my house to watch it with me. it's like the same discussion we're all constantly have about hip hop, except it was filmed prior to the civil rights movement and is about JAZZ. you have to see it!

Posted by: bee at July 2, 2004 11:25 AM

I actually forgot the Sequence, because my gut reaction was "WTF about Sha Rock?" ("Rappin' and Rockin' the House" is '79, I recall.)

Good to see you back, btw. I need to get my own ass back into blog-gear.

Posted by: Matos W.K. at July 2, 2004 12:38 PM

I'm not up on release dates, but what about Tanya & Paulette Winley? I'm actually hoping they were the first, because "Rhymin' and Rappin'" is choice and the actual rapping on "Funk You Up" is, in my somewhat humble opinion, crap on a sandwich. (Not "Sweet Naomi Rap" bad, but nothing is.)

Posted by: Nate Patrin at July 2, 2004 4:22 PM

Yeah, "Rhymin & Rappin" was right around that time. Still, it is kinda silly to pretend that Jamaica wasn't kicking our ass lovely on the rapping tip. Compare Blondie with Sister Nancy, who released her first single, "Papa Dean" in 1980. Unless you know of someone from 1979, that should settle it.

http://www.bigupradio.com/artistDetail.jsp?aid=308

Posted by: eric at July 2, 2004 8:12 PM

Who cares if Blondie is to be considered the first female rapper.

She pales in comparison to all the others.
(no pun intended)

Hey Jay check out this website.....http://www.c2cse.com/

Posted by: Tokyo_Chick at July 2, 2004 11:32 PM

Don't take it out on Blondie, because some sucker, journalist wrote that lame article. Don't hate! I'm sure she'd be embarassed about someone claiming she was the first female M.C.. Besides, what was going on back in those days was a beautiful thing - people from different backgrounds were getting together and sharing music. Think Mudd Club. For a second, people were open minded and listening to different forms of music. Punk and Hip Hop had the same vibe, music outside the bullshit that was being fed to people back in that day. There was a lot of blending and mutual appropriation going on. How about the trend in Hip Hop artists back in the day to get dressed up in S&M / Punk gear? None of you probably remember all the pre Run-D.M.C. songs about Punk and Rock meets Rap. Don't make a foe out of someone who was already respectful to the form before it went mainstream, before it was "legitimized". Also, don't hate, celebrate when it comes to July 4th. Celebrate the positive things about America. If you lived outside of the U.S. you would understand that you have freedoms that no one else does. That don't mean that things can't be better, but that's why you gotta strive.

Posted by: Nat at July 4, 2004 12:20 AM

I will give Blondie credit for bringing the FunkFour+1 w/ her on SNL back in 1981,and she did hang out w/ Flash,FabFive and all,but she was not the 1st.Lady B(now on satellite radio)was on of the 1st,and on the real you can give Teena Marie some credit on "Square Biz".But like Nat said above,even Blondie would think CNN was full of Sh*#

Posted by: roeluv at July 4, 2004 3:07 AM

I give Blondie credit for being sassy. Also I give her much props for starring in Videodrome, one of my all time sci-fi favorite movies. No joke. But Rapture is basically a novelty track. Dr. Demento would be proud.

Posted by: eric at July 5, 2004 2:08 PM

Yo! As a female emcee myself I find it funny how not alot of people remember the oldschool female emcees. The first females I remember hearing was The Sequence, I was like 6 or 7 but, I was into music way back then & my mom took me to the store to get the 12inch that I still have to this day. What's even stranger is that when ever people interview me or ask who inspired me to rhyme & I say Sequence they think I'm talking about the girl from Finess & Senquess ( if thats how her name is spelled). I'm like yo, they were not nearly at the forefront of female emceeing that was way way later. I did know about Sha Rock, but some of the other's was even before my time. I probabally didn't have any business listening to sequence back then on the real. Any how it's good to see that someone even cares about the orgin of the female emcee, without us hip hop would be just a bunch of men with big egos on the radio all day bragging about what they have, how many girls they screwed, & who got shot on the block. You know, sorta like it is now.

P.S. Tell your friend that Blondie was definately not the first female emcee & not even the 2nd. ONE LOVE--INDEED

Posted by: indeed at July 5, 2004 2:16 PM

Yo! is this the Indeed that was on De La Soul's "Mosaic Thump" album. if so, you are pretty dope. haven't heard anything since then. any new material we could look forward to.

Posted by: quimby at July 8, 2004 3:11 AM

that article is double-vomitous. "not only are we revisionists, but we LOVE women in hip-hop OUTFITS!" Thanks for asking Da Brat about her record, CNN.

Who was the first female hip-hop DJ? Wanda Dee?

Posted by: julianne at July 9, 2004 6:58 PM

Punk songstress Deborah Harry of Blondie served up the first female voice of rap. In the middle of "Rapture," a song that dominated the airwaves in the early 1980s, Harry launched into a rapid patter of words atop an irresistible beat. The formula, merging street with sexy, proved so powerful that Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown and other female hip-hop stars use it today.

^^^ I learn something new everyday. Glad that piece of information grabbed my attention.

Posted by: Laayla at July 25, 2004 2:43 AM

Remember the girl emcees. Sha Rock definitely the best. But there were quite a few Missy Dee from the Uptown at Battle Grounds at 151 Amsterdam, Lady T, Choice Girls, Sweet D, Pebbly-Poo, Sequence.

Posted by: Dee at July 28, 2004 3:17 PM

Debbie Harry just accepted an honor from VH1 for
being named the first female rapper. Though she
must know better. And after Rapture did she ever
rap again. Rapture's rap was sloppy, face it.

Posted by: Keith at October 17, 2004 2:22 PM

Jay Smooth is such a fuckin idiot, probably yetanother geeky dumb wigga wwho seem to be bloggin all over the place showin us how "down" they are. God help wiith these wiggaz.

Posted by: Bridgin da gap bitch at October 28, 2004 7:45 AM