MC Lyte, first female rapper to have her own successful solo album, turned 40 this week. In celebration, we look at her achievements and six other top female lyrical wordsmiths to follow in her footsteps.
MC Lyte, aka Lana Moorer, released Lyte as a Rock in September 1988, and though the album only peaked at number 50 in the US chart, it is now featured in The Source’s 100 Best Rap Albums, with I Cram to Understand U in the Best 100 Rap Singles. As well as releasing six more albums, MC Lyte has also collaborated with the likes of Janet Jackson, Will Smith, Queen Latifah, Sinéad O’Connor and Moby.
Queen Latifah
In the same year as MC Lyte’s debut album, Queen Latifah released her first solo single, Wrath of My Madness. Her debut album, All Hail the Queen, followed in 1989. She is now as well known for her Academy Award nomination for acting in the movie version of Chicago as she is as a musician.
Lil’ Kim
Discovered by no less than The Notorious B.I.G in the mid-1990s, Kimberly Jones was soon part of the success of the Junior M.A.F.I.A as Lil' Kim, then in 1996 released her own solo album Hard Core, which went triple platinum, not the last of her albums to do so. Latterly, Lil’ Kim has been to jail for perjury after lying to a jury about a friend’s involvement in a 2001 shooting, but was rumoured last year to be working on a sequel to Hard Core, called Hard Core 2: All Hail the Queen…
Missy Elliott
After what was a horrific childhood by any standards, Missy Elliott, real name Melissa Elliott, left Virginia for New York as a teenager with her rap group Sista in 1990. Soon she was guesting for artists such as Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs and MC Lyte. Her debut solo album Supa Dupa Fly was released in 1997 and went platinum in the US. Her third album, Miss E? So Addictive, is arguably what propelled Missy Elliott into the mainstream, with the massive hits One-Minute Man, Get Ur Freak On and 4 My People.
Ms Dynamite
Ms Dynamite, aka Niomi McLean-Daley, from London, first came to public attention on Sticky’s underground hit Booo! which broke cover as a UK top-20 hit in 2001. After a brief period working with So Solid Crew, Ms Dynamite soon had a solo effort A Little Deeper, featuring perhaps her most famous hit Dy-na-mi-tee, in 2002. Neva Soft is her latest single, released last month ahead of her third studio album, the launch date of which has yet to be confirmed.
GoldieLocks
Fed up of not being taking seriously as a songwriter, 19-year-old Sarah Akwisombe went to college to study music production, after which she began rapping, did an internship at London’s Overtones Studio, and as artist GoldieLocks was picked up by Puregroove/Universal. Latterly she has been involved with the Red Bull Music Academy and is launching her own On the Buttons mentoring company.
M.I.A.
Born in Hounslow, West London, 36-year-old Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has not only been a rapper but also a producer, artist and fashion designer. Having moved as a baby to Sri Lanka, where her parents were originally from and where her father became involved in the country’s civil war, Mathangi moved back to the UK in 1986 with her mother as a refugee. Her artistic side was expressed at the St Martin’s College, where she met and befriended Blur’s Damon Albarn and his girlfriend, Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, for whom she designed the band’s The menace album artwork and filmed their subsequent tour. Her biggest hit as a hip-hop artist is the track Paper Planes, produced by Diplo and Switch and featuring a sample of The Clash’s Straight to Hell, also used on the soundtrack of hit film Slumdog Millionaire.
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