Great Female Rappers Not Named Nicki Minaj

The Well Versed pays tribute to hip hop's other leading ladies.

By Jamilah King Feb 03, 2011

Don’t get us wrong, we love us some Nicki Minaj. But she has been getting lots of attention these days, sometimes at the expense of other female hip-hop artists who are also making big moves of their own. The good folks over at The Well Versed have rounded up ten other emcees to watch for this year. It’s a good list, one that spans the geographic and stylistic spectrum. And if you like it, then you’ll probably also enjoy the first one they came up with last year, which includes heavy hitters like Jean Grae, Invincible, and Rah Digga. Here’s a snippet:

The Bay Area’s Rocky Rivera. From TWV:

The scribe known as Krish De Leon is not only nice writing articles, her rhymes are pretty ill as well. She dropped her self titled debut last February and unfortunately went under the radar of many. Hopefully that won’t be the case for the pint sized bay Area emcee as she is awesome as they come.

Detroit native Miz Korona. From TWV:

Detroit is an emcee haven and Miz Karona is yet another emcee who is just ruthless on the microphone. She’s been one of the stalwart emcees of the indie scene for quite some time. It’s only a matter of time before someone outside of the underground scene takes notice.

Atlanta’s Boog Brown. From TWV:

How do you describe the sound of Atlanta’s Boog Brown? It’s like social commentary stuffed into the musical mind of a strong female emcee. Her latest project with Apollo Brown The Brown Study is evidence that female rappers are a whole lot more than pretty girls with rhymes.

Dessa, out of Minnesota. From TWV:

What can we say about Dessa? Dope? Absolutely. Underrated? Extremely. As the female rapper in Doomtree, Dessa emerged with her brutally honest rhymes and ability to also hold a note. 2010?s A Badly Broken Code was just a taste of what the Minneapolis emcee has in store. We hope to hear more from her in 2011.

New York-based Kalae All Day. From TWV:

Kalae All Day has been brutalizing mics with her unique blend of rhyming and singing to push herself to the front of the pack in NYC. She has yet to drop a full length project but when the self-proclaimed "Afromatic-neo-hippie-rockstar-soul" artist drops The Sun, The Moon, The Stars in early 2011, we’ll be listening.