All-Black-Woman Group of MCs Opened for Chuck D in Chicago

Remember the Set It Off Cypher? And the 6 Black women from Chicago who lit up your YouTube screen for 6 minutes and 47 seconds of multi-dimensional lyrical bliss? Well those same dope women opened for Chuck D and DJ Lord of Public Enemy at a venue in Chicago last Saturday. I’m not sure if other people consider it newsworthy but, especially after the success of their video recorded cypher, I think it absolutely is.

For a quick refresher, the Set It Off cypher showcases verses by Freddie Old Soul, J Bambii, Brittney, EssieL, Syd Shaw, and Bella Bahhs, over a particularly infectious Mobb Deep track. All six are women, all six are Black, and all six are obviously talented with the pen. Their video sits at just a hair over 12,000 views, and I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t have more. Given hip hop’s current landscape, and the seemingly constant refrain of Where are all the female MCs, you’d think that a 6-member group of Black women MCs opening for Public Enemy would be bigger news, right?

But I guess it’s not that surprising. XXL’s annual Freshman class features either zero women or at most, as with its 2015 cover, two. In fact, over the past 5 years of covers and 65 total artists, a whopping 4 of them have been women. It’s certainly not the exact same with every music outlets’ list of up-and-coming rappers, and maybe the Freshman List is an easy example, but either way, it’s safe to say there’s definitely a pattern. It’s worth mentioning that some notable outlets, like Dazed, Paste and Fuse, have published best of lists that feature all women. Which is cool. But why not just feature more women in the overall list?

The music industry’s record label gatekeepers are similar to the music industry’s media gatekeepers in that they have the potential to play a pivotal role in the making of an artist’s career. Industry gatekeepers have the power to manipulate the table, as it were, and influence who sits in which seat. And for a while now, Hip Hop’s table has only featured one or two seats for women MCs—and those seats are on a swivel. This is obviously not a new conversation, and I’m not going to spend time musing over how the music industry’s combination of sexism and capitalism make it a complicated terrain for female MCs, or why the music industry reacts to women rappers the way they do.

Of course, just putting female MCs on a female MCs list isn’t enough. We have to listen to their work, promote their shows, follow their careers and fight for media coverage of their successes. So cheers to the women in the Set It Off cypher. Congratulations on opening for one of the most famous rap groups in hip hop’s history. If you’re in Chicago, catch them live on Sunday, April 3^rd at 1330 N. Milwuakee at 6pm. If you’re not, check out EssieL’s verse from last Saturday’s show below.

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