The Scene - Four guys bowling (my friend & two of his friends.) and talking about the upcoming Penn Relays. One guy named *Toby starts rhyming to himself in a low voice. We all continue to talk but I start to fade out of the conversation because I am listening to Toby discuss strange things under his breath, like his open toe shoes, his clit and other feminine things. Only he is not discussing them he is humming and rhyming about them. The first thing I think to myself is "holy cow, ole boy is probably a homo thug". I don't act alarmed at my naive assumption, instead I just chill. I figure" its all good" as long as he isn't checking for me. Then I listen a little bit closer to what he is saying and I realize that I recognize those lyrics as those of a popular top 5 female rapper. So I say to him with a sigh of relief "oh you're singing *"xxxxxxxxx" new song. So Toby is like nah, she is singing my joint; he says "actually I wrote that for her". I always knew that she didn't write any of her stuff but I read that she was going to start writing her own lyrics on this new album. Then he starts rhyming the whole track, it comes off so authentic that I know he is telling the truth. My friend *Cook interjects and is like "oh yeah Toby wrote like 4 tracks on that album for her". I replied "word dun, that's aiight, I was wondering what was up because I heard some of the stuff that you rhymed about and they were very girly topics I was beginning to wonder about you (we laugh)". While we bowl he recites the other tracks he wrote for her, it seemed kind of weird but very convincing. This episode reminded me of the first time I heard a Chinese girl with a thick Jamaican accent speak to me at an airport I was bugging for days. In this case I didn't really bug out past the initial comments, the more I thought about it, the more sense it made (*real life Example-partially altered as to not indict anybody).

Reality - Now, it's no surprise to anybody that many artists in Hip-Hop and R&B have what are known as Ghostwriters. People who actually write the songs and are paid a fee for the song and as part of the contract they keep their mouths closed about it. Personally I know people who penned the lyrics to some of today's most popular artists. Of course to reveal this would damage the artist image and nowadays image is everything in the music industry. It's almost humorous to listen to an artist being interviewed and then being asked to describe what inspired them to write a particular song and the reality is that somebody wrote it for them. One thing that is consistent is that men usually write for male artist and women usually write for female artist. Rap music is the exception to this rule.

I believe that this is a factor in why you hear so much of the same anti-social, misogynistic music coming from the women despite the ideas of chivalry that still were in place during the late 20th century when Hip-Hop erupted. Early on female artist like Mc Lyte and Roxanne Shante wrote their own lyrics, it was an extension of their personalities. Currently there has been a shift toward more dominating and hardened lyrics. I think it should be stated that hardened lyrics don't make men desire these women more. When men listen to Lil' Kim styled lyrics they are thinking about "freaking off" not making her wifey and definitely not the wife. One feminist whose name I can't recall wrote "Can you be a good feminist and admit out loud that there are things you kind of dig about patriarchy?...And how come no one ever admits that part of the reason women love hip-hop--as sexist as it is-- is 'cuz all that in-yo-face testosterone makes our nipples hard?" This seems to be the case for some women but men don't want to hold hands with a "Thug Misses".

Nowadays unless you have some inside information there is no telling who wrote the lyrics for the female emcee you are listening to. It's no secret that Biggie wrote for Lil Kim, and Nas & Jigga wrote for Foxy. Having a personal relationship with the person who you are writing for of course can help the product seem more genuine. If it is revealed that DMX or one of the Ruff Ryder's writes Eve's lyrics what would be surprising about that. Often in contemporary rap music it is some young man developing the ideas and the flow for the females who call themselves emcees. Most of the popular ones have not distinguished themselves from their male counterparts when it comes to rhyming about their material possessions, non-committal sexual attitudes, exploits of trickery and conquering. Unfortunately, some of this dialogue represents the "Renaissance woman of the new millennium and some of it is nothing but a exaggerated misrepresentation of the females who are allowed (Yes I said allowed) into the rap scene.

Female artist - Popular artist are females who get on the cover of magazines or have a higher profile than average, noticeable enough that they get selected to do other things like Angie Martinez who was chosen to be an American Idol judge although she declined after careful consideration. She is a popular artist who hasn't pimped herself as an emcee, although she isn't selling because she can't rap, not because she hasn't pimped herself. She has garnered respect as a radio personality. Her debut album, Up Close and Personal (2001) got much criticism for featuring a whopping total of 23 guest artists. With such an excessive number of guest appearances, many realized Angie didn't show her emcee skills. On her next album, Animal House, Angie got a little more help from the industry, with contributions from Lil' Mo, Petey Pablo, Missy Elliot, Fat Joe and Kelis. Despite another all-star lineup, Angie told Y2G that she "had total control over this album and that fans will definitely feel her flow more this time around." Yeah, they felt it all right, end result it sold even less than the first album. If she must make music, I suggest she get a ghostwriter that knows her personally or just give it up

Let's take a look at some of what we are dealing with.

One mysterious female rapper named Khia Lynch became a household name virtually overnight with her song of vaginal and anal licking being played on urban radio without editing even in the daytime. This in addition to the rumors that she had AIDS, helped create a controversy around her. She's originally from Philly but moved to Tampa Bay, Florida and had a number of run ins with the law before recording her album. Between 1994-99, Florida cops busted Khia more than 20 times for a variety of felonies & misdemeanors (larceny, fraud, aggravated battery, carrying a concealed weapon).

It is alleged that she was a stripper but right now she only admits to being a bartender. However, on her Thug Misses Album cover Khia definitely poses like a stripper. Khia's photo is on all fours, legs spread, ass-up ready for doggystyle. This on the album she dedicated to her mother. The single that propelled her "my neck, my back would make Millie Jackson blush". Yet, this 31 year old mother of two realizes that she is prostituting herself. She says "There's a lot more to what I'm about than just 'my neck, my back'. I put that out to get my foot in the door. I mean you come out the box talking about respecting yourself and uplifting the community or something like that and people are like 'Hmm well.. I don't know. You start talking about, 'Lick my pussy ' and they're like hey that's great!" so there's more to me and I can't wait to let people know about it"- I doubt that she will get a chance to show much more despite the fact that she was Gold Certified by RIAA in September 2002. I just don't think that people are going to support her. I think she is a 1 hit wonder sort of like Yo-Yo. I also think she should worry about devising a way to reconcile her lyrics with her kids in the future.

Another popular female rapper originally from Philly who has an album certified gold by the RIAA is Eve. Eve is a former stripper who unlike Khia doesn't rap about raunchy sex topics. As Eve prepares to crossover to Hollywood with movie roles, the cover of the current Allure Magazine (target audience white professional women) and sitcoms her past is catching up with her. There have always been nude pictures of her available but one particular photo that is currently circulating is a lesbian Internet photo that a man has been trying to blackmail her with. When asked about it she says, "I used to strip, so it could be me or it could not be me. This man whoever he is, has tried to blackmail us with this photo. He's called all these radio stations telling them about the photo. I mean, he's the type of guy who wakes up every morning to do this" (Photo found here - but it is ADULT so don't click on it at work). Eve need not worry about it stopping her career, it didn't stop Vanessa Williams although she did have to rescind her Ms.Universe crown. It only destroys a part of one's market value for a very temporary period. But the people who dare question the morality or paradigms of pop culture icons are deemed Haters and said to be infringing on the capitalist model of success.

Let us not forget another Florida based rapper who has been exploiting her thickness and good looks for some time. Trina is somewhat on a Lil' Kim level because she really doesn't care too much about certain criticism. Trina once bragged on a good Saturday I could make $1000. I would look at the $500 that I would make on Friday, compared to my one-week check of $160 at the other job and be like 'o.k.' But I only did it - stripped - for 3 months". Recently lawyers for Trina had to put a cease and desist order on a website called www.dabaddestbytch.com which claimed to have a 30 minute tape of Trina freaking off selling for $9.95. Trina's response was kind of like Eve 's in that she claimed "I assume it was something from back in the day. I have never done any type of porno film and that is what pissed me off." Some might consider this more semantic maneuvering. When rumors started to fly that she and Missy Elliot were lesbian lovers a Vibe reporter tried to get the 411 on it in for the May 2002 issue. Trina's response was "I met Missy last May. She's a good person, she's got a good heart, and she's my friend. Does that mean we sleep together? No. My thing is, if you writing checks I cash. I can fuck whomever I want; I'm just that bad. I lay in bed with my cash and get off like that. The only thing that motivates me is the cash. Everything else is fucking irrelevant." That is a brief look at the character representatives and backgrounds of females in Hip-Hop. Some older and educated women feel totally alienated by rap lyrics they used to rock too. It's hard for them to distinguish the misogyny that stems from the mouth of men and the misogyny that stems from the mouth of women in rap nowadays.

Those who study rap culture have long noticed the delicate relationship with rappers and the sexual underworld. Many of the booty shaking women that you now see in rap videos or "thug R&B videos" (R.Kelly) are actual strippers. They were initially permitted so easily because they were voiceless gyrating objects on your TV. It seems as if now they have almost come to life in the form of female artist. Lets be clear about one thing sexuality is the dominating factor in female entertainers. The common belief is that, if they are not advertising sex antics they are gay. Most fans have heard the rumors/whispers about Queen Latifah, Da Brat, Missy Elliot, etc. To my knowledge Missy Elliott and the Queen write their own lyrics but don't expect them to ever confirm suspicions by rhyming about loving a woman. In fact the Brat is already re-inventing herself to become a sex kitten. This month she graces the cover of Smooth magazine in a 2 piece stripper uniform under the headline "Super Freak" on top and to the left it says "The Brat's 1st Sexy pictorial". I didn't check the pictures but I already know what I would see. Her album which came out 5 days ago has her looking like a straight up S&M porn star in a fur coat. Chances are she probably doesn't even like men but judging by some of the title tracks on her new album, she is pretending to. Their publicist understands the downfall of having them viewed as gay in an openly homophobic industry founded by men. Rap is male founded entertainment but unlike basketball it cannot be partitioned into a separate entity like the WNBA (barely surviving). Maybe we can get Lauryn Hill to ghost write for some of these women and bring true balance back. It's not likely so don't expect for the scene to change anytime soon with all these male ghost writers out here. But hey you never know what the future holds, just keep keep in mind that when you think "she said that" it might really be a case of "he said that".

Released: July 15th, 2003

The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of Playahata.com.