January 4, 2024
Nas, Questlove, and LL Cool J are faced criticism for overlooking female rap pioneers in hip-hop 50th anniversary celebrations.
Hip-hop‘s 50th anniversary in 2023 was marked by various celebrations of a genre music that became a cultural movement, but Nas, Questlove, and LL Cool J are now facing criticism for overlooking female rap pioneers in events where they called the shots, according to VIBE.
MC Debbie D, the self-proclaimed first solo female rapper, took to X (Twitter) on Jan. 2 to express her concern over this trend, sharing an open letter.
MC Debbie D began by acknowledging the beauty of the Grammy Awards and Yankee Stadium events celebrating 50 years of hip-hop. However, she pointed out that female pioneers were notably absent from both performances and acknowledgments. She raised questions about whether these omissions were due to a “lack of knowledge” or an act of “revisionist history.”
“While it was admirable to see my sisters, MC Sha Rock and Roxanne Shante, on the mic performing at the Grammys, they represent only a fraction of the early female rappers,” MC Debbie D wrote.
Others who deserved recognition, MC Debbie D wrote, include herself, Lisa Lee, Us Girls, and MC Pebblee Poo.
MC Debbie D recognized the progress made in acknowledging women in hip-hop today but urged that “to be on the right side of history is to remember the names of the women who paved their way!”
Responding to criticism on Twitter, MC Debbie D clarified her stance. “Obviously you don’t know your history… with all due respect to her [Roxanne Shante’s] legacy, there is a long line of female Emcees before 1984!”
Several major events in 2023, including a Grammy performance in February, Yankee Stadium in August, and the Grammy Salute event in December, aimed to honor the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
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