The New York Times published a piece on December 23 from cultural critic Touré which proposes Hip-Hop's masculine core may be shifting by way of an influx of upstart female rappers. The author asserts that a growing, savvy group of up-and-coming artists are challenging Hip-Hop's male-centered presentation simply by being quirky, excluding commonality with their male counterparts and exhibiting a new type of cool.
The catch: all of them are White.
Touré opens his piece with the notion that Hip-Hop is mostly about Black masculinity. The provocative statement achieves its goal of raising eyebrows but it simultaneously opens up some holes in his theory. No sensible person would allege that Hip-Hop isn't male-dominated, as much of music has flourished under a long known patriarchal bent. Yet Touré, who carefully covers his tracks by mentioning that Black female and White male rappers have had their successes, fails to elaborate with anything concrete.
The piece instead becomes a love letter to the prototypical White female who happens to rhyme, gushing over a trio of rap artists that have not made any significant impact beyond social media spheres and a few features articles. It is unfair to say Australian MC and Los Angeles-based Iggy Azalea and Bay Area rhyme slingers Kreayshawn and K. Flay aren't interesting. But after a thorough listening, none of these women have the star power to unseat Nicki Minaj from her throne nor do they possess the stuff to create new trends in Rap.
by D.L. Chandler