Trigger warning: the lyrics in some of these songs are explicit and controversial. Give it a miss if you don’t like this kind of music. 

Happy International Women’s Day! To celebrate the day, I’ve added a few songs by female hip-hop artists. I haven’t added other genres because the list would’ve been far too long. Plus, I’m listening to these songs at the moment. Hope you enjoy the day and happy listening.

Dope St. Jude- Grrrl like

I got to see Dope St. Jude live at the time; I had no idea who she was. Her performance was one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen. She’s from Cape Town. Grrrl like is her latest song; the music video is beautiful, showing off Cape Town and the rest of the Western Cape. To find out more about her, read: Interview

 

Rapsody-Sassy

This song has so much attitude. I have been following Rapsody for ages, and I’m jubilant that she’s finally gaining the recognition she deserves. She doesn’t use her sexuality to gain fame; she simultaneously doesn’t shy away from being her own kind of woman, exhibiting a special brand of femininity. Being a female rapper in a male-dominated field makes her sparkle even more brightly. The standout line for me is “I’ve got diamonds between my knees and oil wells in my thighs. Does my sassyness upset you? Oh, you mad that I survived.”  Now that’s sassy.

K.Flay-Bad vibes 

Kristine Meredith Flaherty-K.Flay started rapping whilst studying at Standford. She’s an indie rapper, and I love her wordplay. Her newer music blends guitars and hip hop. To read more about her, check out Rollingstone. Her official site is : Kflay

I love every single one of her songs, but I can’t make this a K.Flay playlist only, so I chose her latest album, Bad Vibes. K.Flay sings about thinking it’s trendy to be sad: “You think it’s hot to be sad, but it’s not.” She’s saying here that it’s not cool to be sad and pretend to be sad to look trendy.

Sa-Roc-Forever

Thanks to YouTube I discovered Sa-Roc a few weeks ago. She’s amazing, and it was hard to choose a song to include here. I cheated and added two of her songs. Forever is about struggling to love yourself and the importance of being you. The lyrics are beautiful.

OSHUN ft. Proda-  Protect Your Self 

The band’s official site states that “OSHUN is an independent hip-hop/soul duo and the sonic manifestation of afrofuturism.” One of the standout lines of this song for me is “My God is Black, Black, Black aboriginal man.” This music video is unique and does have an Afrofuturism feel to it. To find out more: Oshuniverse

Ruby Ibarra, Rocky Rivera, Klassy, & Faith Santilla-US

 After the hook, the first line of this song is “Yo fuck a story arc if it don’t involve no matriarchs.” This one is explicit and full of Filipino pride. The video is styled exquisitely, with the rappers dressed up in traditional attire during certain scenes. 

Dai Burger-Where My Girls 

Dai Burger raps about being happy for women who are single or married. She talks about throwing out diets and about women who have different hair colours. The song has a positive feel to it. Dai Burger is a queer artist; she also started a foundation to help young girls learn about the entire songwriting process, from writing lyrics to sound recording. To read more, click: Billboard interview

 Awkwafia x Margaret Cho- Green Tea

Explicit and extremely funny. Awkwafina is a cast member of Crazy Rich Asians and makes controversial music. I had a good laugh whilst listening to this song for the first time.

Sa-Roc- I am her

Yip Sa-Roc again. Assata Perkins is a master of words. She weaves in various woman rights issues into this song without making it sound preachy. The hook sums it up.

“You won’t ever see us back away.Till we make the world see that we ain’t come to playThis is so lil girls dream bigger than they supposed to.And we get a fair share of pie on the plate.I am her, I am her, I am her.”

Leikeli47-Money

Leikeli47 always wears a mask; she has stated that the masks make her feel brave like Batman. In the song Money, she raps on how hard it was for her to become successful. “All my life, I had to grind and hustle. I had to work like Kobe just to shine like  Russell.” The beat of the song is really good.

Sampa The Great ft. Nadeem Din G-Gabisi -Energy

Sampa Tembo is known professionally as Sampa the Great. Her music certainly is great. She is Zambian-born and grew up in Botswana and Australia. She is a poet, and in her song Black Girl Magic, she includes a spoken word poetry verse. I chose to add Energy to her simply because it’s the first one of her songs that I heard.

Princess Nokia- Tomboy 

Destiny Nicole Frasqueri, Princess Nokia, is a feminist rapper and is one of the founders of Smart Girl Club, which seeks to promote body positivism, female artists, and much more. Read more here:Smart Girl Club article

Listen to one of the podcasts here: Soundcloud

Janelle Monáe- Django Jane 

With songs like Pynk, I like it, and Screwed Janelle Monáe needs no introduction. She’s the only well-known mainstream artist that I chose to add to this playlist. Django Jane plays tribute to Quentin Tarantino’s film Django Unchained, which deals with slavery. This song seeks to celebrate black women, and the video is colourful, glamorous, and just wow.

Little Simz-Venom

Simbiatu “Simbi” Abisola Abiola Ajikawo is an English rapper, singer and actress. She started recording at 9 years old and released her music in her teens. Highly underrated Little Simz belts out hard-hitting lyrics in Venom. She raps about smashing the rap hierarchy and patriarchal society in order to make her voice heard in Venom.

Thank you for reading and listening. I haven’t added obvious songs like U.N.I.T.Y. by Queen Latifah and None of Your Business by Salt n’ Pepper. And the list exculdes artists like Angel Haze simply because I needed to keep it as short as possible.

If you have any comments or want to collaborate online, do let me know. I love reading comments on my blog, so feel free to comment.

Wishing you a great International Women’s Day.