Trina's Single Again

I'm a little behind the times with this tune. Trina's album Still the Baddest came out a year ago and this was the first single.   I heard "Single Again" where I discover most hip-hop music these days, in a dance class.  The instructor is a great choreographer and I like her music.  By the end of the class, I'm deluded into believing that I could be a back up dancer for Janet or J.Lo. While that will never happen, it is where I find out that Janet and J. Lo have new albums and discover new hip-hop tunes.   She played "Single Again" a few months ago and I was hooked. It also made me realize that I hadn't heard a female rapper in a while.  Was it just my ignorance or was there something more to it?



"Single Again", a catchy dance tune with a punchy, steady, groove,  made it to my ipod for working out at the gym.  It's also the kind of song to sing along to in a club with all your girlfriends.  The chorus is simple, "I'm single again, back on the prowl, I thought it was perfect, I don't how, I'm single again".   The verse is all about having her own money and needing her own space, so she tells her ex to stop calling and apologizing, 'cause she's done.  Rumor has it the song refers to her ex, Lil' Wayne, with whom she may or may not have a child.  

 

Listening to Trina made me wonder, where are all the female rappers? When hip-hop came to prominence in the late '80's and early '90's we had Monie Love, MC Lyte, JJ Fad, Queen Latifah, and Salt-n-Pepa.  Most hip-hop lyrics at the time were about having a good time on the dance floor.  It was all about the beats and rhymes.  The male MCs were down with the the 'fly -girls and 'all the ladies in da house'.  But over the past ten years, the ganstas ruled the turntables, turning  women into bitches and hos.   After Lauryn Hill's seminal 1998 album, female MCs seemed to disappear.  Missy Elliott, also  a writer and producer, keeps turning out the hits on her own or as a guest MC or producer. But how many others can we name from the past decade? Eve? Lil Kim?  As for the original godmothers of the genre, they've moved on.  Queen Latifah is making movies, starring in Cover Girl ads, and singing jazz standards. Salt-n-Pepa broke up and recently tried to work out their differences in a reality show on VH1 (no subsequent albums have resulted).

Many, with far more knowledge than I, have undertaken to investigate this phenom. I leave it to them to take on the weighty issue of women and hip-hop. There are scores of blogs and websites, even NPR podcasts on the topic.  I highly recommend When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down by Joan Morgan.  She not only examines hip-hop music, but also offers a deep and personal analysis about being a black feminist. 

Chickenheads is 10 years old, and times do seem to be changing.  We now have 18 yr old  Lil Mama rapping about her lip gloss and getting loose on the dance floor.  M.I.A. upstaged of some of the biggest male rappers in the biz with her performance at this year's Grammy's.  Eve is due out with a new album this year and MC Lyte is back.  One could even say the men are turning a corner. New rappers like Common and Lupe Fiasco are onto different topics and going back to dance floor for inspiration.  Who knows, maybe T.I.'s thug ways aren't the only thing 'dead and gone', maybe the same will be said for the misogyny in hip-hop music? A few men have always remained true to the old school spirit. Even when taking on serious topics like crack-addicted mothers, they never degraded women into bitches or hos. Thank you Chuck D, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, LL Cool J, and Q-Tip!

Although Trina uses some fightin' words and calls herself a bitch, it's refreshing to hear a woman rap.  Her second single "I Got a Thang for You" is slow with more of an R&B groove.  She has a new album, Amazin', due out in September.  Until then, if you want to learn more about women in hip-hop and hear some of the classics, below are a few places to start.   

See and Hear Songs in this Blog
Single Again
I Got a Thang for You

Check out: FLY GIRLS! B-Boys Beware: Revenge of the Super Female Rappers from Soul Jazz records. A great collection with only the glaring omission of Salt-n-Pepa. A UK release, so a bit pricey if you are purchasing from the US. Watch for a US release later this summer.

Suggested Mix: Godmothers of Hip-Hop 
Salt -n- Pepa Push It
Queen Latifah U.N.I.T.Y.
Mc Lyte Ruff Neck
Monie Love It's a Shame
JJ Fad Supersonic

Bonus Track: Blondie Rapture (She wasn't a rapper, but it was the first #1 hit song with a rap and the first rap video broadcast on MTV so let's not discount her completely and leave the race discussion for another blog.)

Suggested Mix: The Next Few Generations
Missy Elliott Work It
Lauryn Hill Doo Wop
Lil' Kim No Matter What They Say
Eve and Gwen Stefani Let Me Blow Ya Mind
Lil Mama Lip Gloss
M.I.A. Paper Planes

Suggested Mix: A few of Our Favorite Boys
LL Cool J Around the Way Girl
A Tribe Called Quest Check the Rhime
Black Star Respiration
Common Universal Mind Control
T.I. ft Justin Timberlake Dead and Gone