How the Rise of Female Rap has Impacted and Empowered Modern R’n’B Voices
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When I first started focusing on making music I already knew a lot of the traditional R&B like the back of my hand. The way it was made, the structure, the sounds - all very predictable. The stories that were told were heavily based on love and heartbreak. Every song was either about missing someone or loving someone hard. For me, I feel as though these stories are told best in R&B compared to any other genre. No other genre can compare when it comes to these feelings being expressed through music. Over time, I noticed that the stories were told in the same way, over and over again, which is great and fine, but every genre must move forward and has to merge with other elements of music in order to stay interesting.
I became infatuated with the way in which female rappers would tell their stories and express new emotions and opinions that aren't traditionally shared by women in rap. What inspired me the most was the honesty and expressiveness they had, a kind of unapologetic attitude and approach that was undeniable and authentic to me. I would listen to Rico Nasty and think “she’s really p*ssed off here, and she’s sharing that through her music?” It was different to me, as women in music in general are taught to be, and presented as having to be pretty, polite and non-offensive. Black women in both R&B and rap are typically framed as objects of desire, rather than women with their own opinions and thoughts. Female rappers have become way more experimental in recent years building from the foundation made by groundbreaking artists like Trina, Lil Kim, Queen Latifah, Remy Ma & Missy Elliott, and are way more involved in the creative process; Yung Baby Tate (who I love) produces and writes her own music as does the legendary Nicki Minaj. This level of involvement and ownership to me creates a more authentic story when she’s telling one in her music, and is also such an empowering way of being a woman and an artist. A lot of women in rap are really just talking their sh*t nowadays, which I love to see, and which is also truly relatable. Being able to take these big emotions that aren't pretty or perfectly packaged for what has typically been expected of women in music is really refreshing to me. I listen to a lot of women in rap as I feel as though they are the pioneers of alternative perspectives and unconventional stories when it comes to women in music. Some of those artists include but are not limited to Junglepussy, Leikeli47, Chika, BbyMutha & Tierra Whack, plus those who have experienced significant chart recognition like, Cardi B & Doja Cat.
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R&B in more recent years has had a similar turn, with artists like SZA and Summer Walker. Not only have they contributed to R&B in the way in which their music sounds, but I believe that part of their success has to do with the kinds of stories they’re telling. Songs like ‘just might’ by summer walker where a line in the hook says that she ‘just might be a hoe’ comes as quite a shock for those who know R&B to be a place where women ‘don’t say things like that’. Or with sza telling an atypical story in ‘the weekend’ where she’s owning up to being a sidechick to a man - and doesnt mind, is kind of confusing for traditional R&B listeners. These stories are told not with sadness or tears, they’re told with honesty and conviction, similar to the honesty and conviction of the women in rap.
The same way in which women in rap were getting bored of their lack of autonomy in their careers and in what kinds of stories they could tell. I feel as though women in R&B suffered with that same boredom, and believe that women in R&B can look across to the women in rap in recent years to gain some sort of inspiration on what new things they can say and how they can say it.
R&B girls were always expected to be monolithic, to sing songs about how they're in love or how someone hurt them. R&B is usually a place where women are expected to be soft spoken, gentle and non-threatening, PG and perfectly poised - we are seeing more rnb girls breaking these boundaries more and more. I’ve definitely been inspired by this, in my first single 7AM I'm talking about kicking out a one-night-stand, and how he should leave now since we’re done. There’s this expectation of how women in general should be, and I chose to share my honest thoughts through music.
“I always think writing music is initially very personal, and then there's a process of how to make that understandable and accessible or relatable to others.”
These shifts and overlaps between women in rap and R&B heavily inspire my creative process today. I always think writing music is initially very personal, and then there's a process of how to make that understandable and accessible or relatable to others. However, I'm now less interested in that conversion and translation process. Oftentimes we as writers translate ourselves to sound more palatable and digestible, especially as women and as women in R&B. I'm less focused on that now, you get in where you fit in and those who relate will relate, which is oftentimes the majority of people nowadays, as we are modern women living and experiencing new and modern things. A lot of those traditional narratives will continue to be told, and that's fine because those feelings of love and heartbreak are still universal and timeless, but on a day to day, we experience much more than that in our lives, and more women in music in both rap and R&B are telling these stories unapologetically for us.
Words: Raheaven
