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sing the development of black female rappers, it should be said there could be clearly defined two main trends, which have been typical for black female rappers since 1980s. Initially, black female rappers had to “wear the same clothes as men, curse with the same intonation, and adopt a harsh mentality that didn’t place much value on feminine instincts” (Nelson 1998, 188) that was actually a natural consequences of male domination in rap music and culture at large.
On the other hand, later a new trend has become popular. Black females broke ground using sex or feminine image which was deliberately underlined. As Nelson George points out, “most commercially successful female group (and one of rap’s best selling act of any gender) began as slightly chubby b-girls who have evolved into glamour girls, and have been talking about sex since 1986” (1998, 185). Quite noteworthy is the fact that many female rappers used similar themes in their songs.
Nonetheless, it is impossible to objectively evaluate the role of black female rappers without analysis of the work of the most outstanding black female rappers. One of the most popular and well known black female rappers, whose contribution in the development of rap music is undoubted, is Dana Owens, better known as Queen Latifah. By the way her adapted Arabic name Latifah is quite symbolic and means ‘beautiful’, ‘sensitive’, ‘kind’. She became popular in 1989 with her hit single “Ladies First”. According to Monica Lynch, the Tommy Boy executive who put Latifah on, the song “signalled the empowerment of a new breed of female MC’s” (Hip Hop Divas 2001, 52). In fact this song arrived quite in time because at came at a period in rap when many female rappers were just dissing one another but not doing the same to their sexist male counterparts. In such a situation her album “All Hail” was not a sort of an album traditional for black female rappers of that time but it was an album of a woman who was not afraid to confront sexist and disrespectful behaviour. As the matter of fact, Queen Latifah has managed to put the right messages at the right time for, as many critics underlined, “the topic of empowerment for the ladies made a big impact on many socially, including capturing the attention of hip-hop journalists debating and documenting the female perspective” (Hip Hop Divas 2001, 53). Moreover, her trend to underline female independence and equality often provoked discussions about her heterosexuality and often she was asked whether she was a gay or not.
However, Queen Latifah was not very successful from commercial point of view for she has got only one gold record but financial side of the business was obviously not the most important in her contribution to the development of black female rap music. In fact she is an excellent example of positive female representation in rap music since her image is traditionally perceived as positive. As Treach said “she represents black women power. That’s why all the ladies were behind her whether they were rap fans or not” (Hip Hop Ladies 2001, 56). Unfortunately, Queen Latifah is a rare exception with her social and spiritual aims superior to financial ones which were basic for the vast majority of black female rappers later.
Anther significant personality among black female rappers is Sister Souljah. In fact she is a very gifted person who managed to apply her talent and knowledge in different fields though she is traditionally thoug本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。