Today’s rap landscape wouldn’t have been possible without the pioneering role of women MCs. In an era when the field was predominantly male in the ’70s and ’80s, these fearless wordsmiths, including MC Lyte, Roxanne Shante, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah emerged to transform it.
MC Lyte, the first-ever female MC to release a solo studio album, and Roxanne Shante, who showcased her dominance during her lyrical tussle with UTFO, are just a few examples of the incredible talent that emerged. Salt-N-Pepa, with their magnetic personalities and sex appeal, showed the world that women can run the game with the best of them, both on and off the mic. And then there’s Missy Elliott, whose innate creativity not only made music videos motion-picture quality but also threw convention out of the window, leaving a lasting impact on the genre.
Some of the greatest masterworks in rap today were crafted by women — including Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won five Grammys, Lil Kim’s Hard Core, which was the first rap album by a woman artist to debut No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday, which was certified triple platinum, and now Doechii’s revered Grammy Award winning project Alligator Bites Never Heal. The genre doesn’t move without women. With a flurry of artists today zipping past the competition, ranging from Megan Thee Stallion to Cardi B to GloRilla and Latto, it’s hard to imagine what hip-hop would be if women MCs didn’t have a say in the genre’s ever-growing evolution.
Below, the Billboard staff compiles our picks for the 25 best female rappers of all time, along the following criteria: body of work/achievements (charted singles/albums, gold/platinum certifications), cultural impact/influence (how the artist’s work fostered the genre’s evolution), longevity (years at the mic), lyrics (storytelling skills) and flow (vocal prowess).
See our picks below, and let us know who you think is the best female rapper ever.
