Various Artists - Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge of the Super Female Rappers (Album)
Hip hop is like the cool kids at school – it seems that everyone wants to be part of their elite crew, and many will try to be initiated into this exclusive circle.
But many during this time have ultimately failed in succeeding as a b-boy, so they have effectively formed their own rival gangs to contest that of the mainstream. And in this regard, some have succeeded: just look at the monumental growth in the Aussie hip hop scene for a reference point. And now the sisters are doing it for themselves with this raw compilation: Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge of the Surper Female Rappers, a none too subtle refusal of surrender in this ongoing playground war.
The album was produced by London’s Soul Jazz Records, serving as a chronological tribute marking the 30th anniversary of women in hip hop, and plays out like an historical snapshot. And once upon a time in 1979, in the ghettos of New York City, the first female rap record was created by the Winley sisters, Paulette and Tanya. And from this simple case of nepotism, a new era in hip hop was born. And as such, the album had to include Tanya Winley’s very feisty, Vicious Rap. Complete with sampled ambulance wails, kick arse rhymes and the delivery style up there with the best, it’s easy to tell how this woman contributed to leading the way.
Roxanne Shante, who provides the album’s final track, Bite This, is considered to be the first woman to make a career in hip hop. Her origins start in the school playground with a fellow arch rival shouting obscenities about each other’s mothers and ultimately carved out a new path in rhymes, defying that defined by the b-boys on the scene. This compilation is like a history lesson on crack, ensuring you at least a Diploma in the female hip hop movement (and at least some street cred from your mates).
All the pioneers are there, from aforementioned Winley, Shante and other 70’s hip-hop chanteuses as Sequence – “the Sequence crew/Just doin’ the do” to the multi-talented rapper/”actress”/covergirl, Queen Latifah and the mighty fine Missy Elliott with her supremo track, The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly). There’s the different styles and techniques, from beat poetry acknowledging hip hop’s south-Bronx tenement building genesis, to primitive accapella rap to stoner fly-girl (thanks, Missy…).
The raw energy and excitement contained within this 18-track offering is totally contagious and so very appealing . It has a true organic quality to it, resonant of hip hop as it should be – sans bells and whistles - there is not a single trace of genetic modification, metaphorically speaking. It has the vibe of a freestlye jam-off and the attitude of an Amazonian warrior. When you listen to this the idea that the Spice Girls were once the ultimate representation of girl power is mind-blowing… For this is the ultimate bra-burning outfit that totally sticks it to the dudes and their “cool crew” mentality…B-boys Beware!
