2020: The Year of Female Rap

2020 has been a catastrophic year. I think nearly all of us can vouch for this.

Coronavirus, exams cancelled, plans tossed aside, family members lost.

These are only a few of the things that have happened to us, but I’m sure there are many more.

Looking back at it, it’s actually difficult to think of anything particularly good (besides having food and a roof over your head); in fact, I’d say 2020 has easily been the worst year of my life.

However, it’s clear that there was a certain group of people who thrived during this whirlwind of a year. And that would be female rappers.

Before 2020, there was always good modern female rap to listen to, but if you think about it, most of this music came from a sole few, such as Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and perhaps Megan Thee Stallion. In no way am I saying these three examples were the only female rappers making good music, but most of the time, I’d have to argue they were the only three consistently putting out songs which became hits, and even Megan getting to this level only a couple years ago.

And then 2020 came along.

Female rap exploded, essentially.

Now, you had Cardi, Nicki, Megan, still, but also Rubi Rose, Mulatto, Flo Milli, DreamDoll, Asian Doll, Young MA, Saweetie, City Girls, Coi Leray, and Lakeyah, who really started to blow up right towards the end of the year.

2020’s female rap offered variety, which wasn’t really so prominent before.

Dreezy, DreamDoll, Young MA and Mulatto in 'Thot Box'

Each of these rappers have a distinct style, flow, attitude, yet are all incredibly talented.

Rubi Rose is defined by her low, seductive tone in songs, Mulatto by her Southern drawl and relentless confidence, Flo Milli by her sweet, snappier lyrics and diction, Dream by her Brooklyn accent, Young MA by her deeper, more masculine take.

As you can see, there’s something available for every kind of woman, every kind of person who’s taken an interest in female rap.

As you can see, female rappers took 2020 as an opportunity.

Mulatto details her rise to fame this year in an interview with documentary maker Karen Civil, saying, ‘I’d just signed to RCA in December 2019, but we kept it on the low, so we could just have a crazy 2020, and we announced it in March, and we spent January, February planning. I had this big rollout plan, and then the pandemic hit in April, so I didn’t even get to live that whole rollout plan that we spent three months coming up with, and recording, all of that. But you know, that’s flexibility—I had to just be mobile and get creative. Only a certain number of people could be on set during music videos, we had to wear masks...’

Coi Leray, Cole Bennett, Big Latto, and Mariah the Scientist on the set for 'On God'

In any case, Mulatto dropped her debut album, 'Queen of Da Souf', in August 2020, with features from City Girls, 42 Dugg, 21 Savage, Gucci Mane, and Lil Baby. Her biggest song to date is 'B*tch From Da Souf', with Trina and Saweetie both on it.

Mulatto became a star in 2020.

To take it further, the female collaborations this year have been insane. Not a single person who has access to the internet can talk about 2020’s successes without mentioning 'WAP'. It’s impossible.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s 'WAP' debuted at 93 million US streams, the most ever for a song’s opening week in history. If that’s not a feat, I don’t know what is.

Cardi and Megan in 'WAP'

The video (and the song) was a display of female talent and power, featuring other prominent female artists, such as Normani, Mulatto, Rubi Rose, Sukihana, and Rosalía. It broke the toxic stereotype that female artists have to be in competition: they can just as easily build each other up.

JT of the Miami duo City Girls, incarcerated for fraudulent credit card charges, was released in March 2020, after having Yung Miami hold down her legacy and image for a year, whilst managing her own pregnancy.

They shortly after released their studio album, 'City on Lock', in June: no time was wasted.

I think 2020 has been utterly and truly a terrible year.

However, I also think that denying its mark in the female rap timeline...would actually be a bit of a crime.