Women
Women have contributed to hip hop’s evolution in Britain from the beginning. The current British hip hop scene features strong women like Estelle, Baby Blue, Shystie, Misha B, Notorious T, and Mercury prize winners Speech Debelle and Ms. Dynamite.
Women in hip hop often confront a large amount of sexist stereotyping. Recently, many female British hip hop artists who confront this stereotyping have become popular. Grime artist Lady Sovereign has achieved huge success both in the UK and the US. Ms Dynamite (also known as Lady Dynamite), who released her first album in 2002, has become known for the political and social commentary in her music. Singer, songwriter, and rapper Estelle said of the difficult position of female rappers “I think they get a tough ride because some of them don’t see themselves above and beyond the bullshit and no one’s really given them that break.”
Read more about this topic: British Hip Hop
Famous quotes containing the word women:
“Your women of honour, as you call ‘em, are only chary of their reputations, not their persons; and ‘tis scandal that they would avoid, not men.”
—William Wycherley (1640–1716)
“The husbands of very beautiful women belong to the criminal classes.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)