5 Female Rappers You Should Know About

To celebrate Cardi B’s ‘Bodak Yellow’ reaching #1 on Billboard Hot 100 this week, we’d like to share 5 of our favorite female rap artists coming up in the game right now.

In today’s landscape, it’s interesting and shameful that your gender identity can hold you back from gaining more recognition. Artists like Gangsta Boo have consistently put out the hardest shit since her debut with Three 6 Mafia in 1995. Young M.A is the hardest rapper out of New York since 50 Cent. These artists are often overlooked, but they’re making some of the best Hip Hop in 2017.

Maliibu Miitch

Cardi B isn’t the only rapper from the Bronx that’s popping. Maliibu Miitch has dropped several remixes of classic female artists, including Eve’s ‘Who’s That Girl,’ Lil Kim’s ‘Crush On You,’ and Lauryn Hill’s ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’. Her whispery, gruff flow is reminiscent of Foxy Brown, and she spits just as hard. She’s playful, at once sticky her tongue out and milly rocking, another staring fire into your soul, daring you to say something.

Rico Nasty

Rico Nasty loves talking shit. Tracks like ‘iCarly’ and her biggest song ‘Poppin’ are infectious bangers that demand replays. Her 90’s inspired, brightly colored videos finds her and her peers smoking, hanging around playgrounds, and it’s hard not to empathize with the fun she’s having. Her excitement for her music is infectious. Her project Tales of Tacobella is available on streaming platforms now.

Cuban Doll

Cuban Doll has a mixtape dropping titled Aaliyah Keef, very telling of where her mind is at with her music. “My new mixtape is titled Aaliyah Keef ’cause, well Aaliyah is my cute side and she a legend, and Keef is my favorite rapper,” she told Noisey earlier this month. In her newest song off the mixtape, ‘Exposya’, she exposes those she doesn’t think is a real nigga or real bitch.

Kamaiyah

Kamaiyah isn’t necessarily new, but she’s oft slept-on. Personifying and modernizing the classic Oakland sound as much as her male contemporaries, her layered, singy flow rides bouncy slaps that are perfect for riding around in the sunshine. Her new single “Build You Up’ is a positive force, if you got somebody behinmd you, you won’t even be alone. Watch the video below.

Princess Nokia

A New York City native, Princess Nokia is a special force in Hip Hop right now. Making several appearances on local artists like Ratking for the past couple years, her music is infused with bruja magic and spirituality as well as body positive anthems like ‘Tomboy’, flaunting her lil titties and her fat belly. Her newest video for ‘G.O.A.T.’ shows her weirdest side, the flow loose, navigating the spaces between the beat in ways you couldn’t compare to most younger rap artists.