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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > April > 14 > Entry
“Miss Rap Supreme” Includes Atlantans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The search for female rappers moves from the charts — where there are only two (Missy Elliott, Lil Mama) in Billboard’s Top 25 — to the TV at 10 p.m. tonight, where VH1 will debut “ego trip’s Miss Rap Supreme”.
The eight-episode series finds Michael “MC Serch” Berrin (of short-lived, early ’90s hip-hop group 3rd Bass) and pioneering rhymer Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker choosing from 10 rappers to earn the title — and $100,000. Among the 10 is Atlantan Ms. Cherry, and fellow local artist Khia (who claims her native Florida in the show).
Yes, that is the same Khia who had a club hit with “My Neck, My Back”, and sold hundreds of thousands of copies of her album with that single, “Thug Misses”. (Hear the clean version of her new single “Be Your Lady” HERE ).
It’s an odd inclusion among the other relative unknowns. And Serch points that out in the beginning, asking her what it’s like to go from “800,000 albums sold to almost obscurity, now to this show?”
“I like her, but is she more than a one-hit wonder?” Yo-Yo asks.
“I really thought she was a judge,” adds one of Khia’s competitors.
Oh she’s far more than that. As the more accomplished among them, Khia already believes — and acts — like the crown is hers; and that makes for an interesting dynamic in Los Angeles’s Fembassy Hotel Suites, where they’re all staying.
In other words, as the announcer says in the intro, “The claws will come out.”
Ever wonder why there are so few female hip-hop artists? Jason Geter of Atlanta’s Grand Hustle record label said recently that women are part of the problem — “they’ll buy a guy’s music and won’t buy a woman’s…And they’re harder on women, sometimes, than dudes are.” That’s a point also expressed in this show, before the first challenge — where the 10 rap for women in a beauty salon, a sorority house, and then a group of nuns.
Do you agree with Geter’s point? And what about hip-hop today — is it in need of more female voices, in your opinion?
Comments
By Peanut Buster
April 14, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this
1st in Last Out
By DawgsChick
April 14, 2008 6:20 PM | Link to this
That’s so true. Women fall into the “He’s so fine, he’s so hard” mentality and will completely over look chicks that actually have talent. Look at Mia X, Gangsta Boo, Lil Kim, all females that could hold their own, but weren’t respected enough to support.
T.I. went from hungry when he was putting his heart and soul into his music with “I’m Serious” to the VERY mediocre past 5 years.
I’m UTTERLY disappointed.
By Coolguy
April 15, 2008 3:18 AM | Link to this
I totally agree with Geter. We do need more female voices out here, Back in the day we had a slew of Female talent, such as MC Lyte, Silk X Leather, Yo Yo, The Queens(Salt and Peppa, with Ms Spindarella) just to name a small few. So come on ladies get out there and Bring that style and Finesse to us.
By Bless
April 15, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
I agree to a point. They have removed the best female artist category from most if not all the award shows. We either get a women thats rapping like a dude or a female thats talking about nothing but sexy. We need like a female that is lyrical and has songs with substance. I watched the show last night and you can’t tell me that was the best they could find. I mean i wasn’t impressed by anyone on that show last night. Khia sold 800k of her album off of 1 hit.. If you heard the album you will see why, her raps are mediorce at best. Did you hear her 16 bars last night…lol she should of been sent home but this is tv and they need her to help with the drama. Plus can you even take the show serious with the gimmicks they have them doing? Why would they rap in front of people that don’t listen to rap, like they are going to know if its good or not…
By Drama
April 15, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
Khia is a hot mess!! How do you go from selling thousands of albums, even if you are a 1 hit wonder, to competing with amateurs on a reality show. Atleast 4 of the other young ladies have more talent than her. She is comical at best. She should be embarassed. You don’t see Eve, Lil Kim, Trina, Salt N Pepa, not even Remy Ma competing with people off the streets to prove her rapping abilities. Khia, maybe you should try to get into acting. You play the arrogant, angry black woman role really well.
By Ladies First&Last
April 15, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this
Hip hop needs to stop the madness today!!!! Everybody has an excuse as to why no REAL female rappers are charting. It’s simple - the industry wears its women out, not other women!
No rapper/businesswoman has time to listen to what their image should be to relate to hip hop fans when they have a real life to run, especially when marketers don’t even really know who hip hop fans are anymore. Ain’t nobody selling nothing these days! Keep it real. Monie Love went home to raise her kids. Sista Soulja is about to turn her book into a much anticipated movie. Salt-N…..too easy. Just turn on VH1 and let it speak for itself. Eve is out in Hollywood doing her fashion/socialite thing and throwing haters down stairs. Lyte is voice-overing car commercials. And, to sum it all up, two words for ya - Dana Owens. Ye is praying daily that he has a career like hers twenty years deep. They too busy handling bidness!
These women don’t need packaging and contrived source material to make a popular album because their motivation is the same as mine and every other woman on the face of this planet. Baby gotta eat! They need freedom and support to do what they do and express who they are. That’s all.
Even with their obvious love and competency of the art form, they have no more time for the trick that is hip hop and its companion foolishness. The whole game is in the can now because it no longer even respects itself and the mother’s of invention jumped ship. Don’t blame the South and Snap Music. Soulja Boy needs to be tongue lashed until he understands the meaning of the metaphoric phrase………Hip hop is an orphan needing some nurturing at this point in its history. It ain’t dead; it’s a motherless child looking for a home.
All of the women I named above are true geniuses and could send most of the men charting now straight home with their tails between their legs in a freestyle 1 on 1. It is the decision makers in the industry who will not let these women be WHO they are and tell their own stories and the consumers know it. That’s why no one is consuming and other women are so hard on the one’s that are out there. We want lyrics, creativity, stories and honesty; not a 5 year marketing plan obviously put together by some random dude with a hustle in his head and a dreamgirl in his hip pocket.
Find a label brave enough to let any of those females listed above pick their own producers, finance the project like they would one of their dudes, lay down 12 tracks with no interference, conceptualize their own image and videos, pick their own singles and release dates and implement their own marketing scheme and I guarantee platinum. Challenge, Grand Hustle, Sandman-style.
The whole concept of this show illustrates just how much the game eats its estrogen. It’s embarassing and offensive to have the original “intelligent, Black woman” judging a chick who has already guested on a Janet Jackson cut. For a guy, industry politics aside, that alone would have been enough of a resume’ builder to get him his own top notch deal and enough creative control to at least be a judge on this catastrophe.
As a big fan of hip hop, I’m not watching this show. It’s too painful to witness this latest dog- and-pony violation of women associated with the genre. I’m going home to put on Shorty No Mas, do my dishes and hope that my daughter’s generation can take back the music. I wish all of the contestants luck, though, if that was their true motivation for doing it. If the winner can spit fire on a cut that her label doesn’t screw around, then I’ll definitely show her my sisterly support on Itunes.
By mystique
April 19, 2008 2:28 AM | Link to this
Where is tha info to enter Miss Rap supreme contest?
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