Instances of white women rapping

Cafe Society
1

Yeah…we know about Blondie’s crazy rap in “Rapture”. But surely you white wimmins got more to offer than that, right?

I was listening to Teena Marie’s “Square Biz” today and got to thinking about the rareness of white women in the rap genre. I’m not a lover of most rap songs because I can’t identify with a lot of the messages and imagery contained in them–nor do I want to–but I do like rap as an art form. Even better is when rapping and singing come together in one song.

“Square Biz” is one of my favorite dance songs, and it made me a fan of Teena Marie. In the song, she shows off her signature soulful voice, but during the “break it down” part of the song (you know, the part when you start really getting your dance on), she starts rapping:

*Baby, what’s happening
Entre vous Lady Tee
I’ve heard a boatload of others ladies’ raps
But they ain’t got nothin’ on me
I’m less than five foot one, a hundred pounds of fun
I like sophisticated funk
I live on Dom Perignon, caviar, filet mignon
And you can best believe that’s bunk…

I’ve been called Casper, Shorty, Lil’ Bit
And some they call me Vanilla Child
But you know that don’t mean my world to me
'Cause baby, names can’t cramp my style
[I love chick-icken] And Buff’s collard greens
A little hot water corn bread
I love you too Cat daddy
But don’t you let that go to your head…

You know I love spirituals and rock
Sarah Vaughn, Johann Sebastian Bach
Shakespeare, Maya Angelou
And Nikki Giovanni just to name a few
Well, I’m wild and peaceful Lady Tee
I got to keep my irons in the fire, you see
I got the point, the scam, the low, the deal
What you feel, say what?*

Lady T was flowin’ all the way back in 1981, yo!

But you might be saying to yourself, “Teena Marie is a well-established R&B singer. Hanging around Rick James would make anyone get the rapping flava”. But what about the incomparable Annie Lennox? I fell out on the floor the first time I played “Money Can’t Buy It” from her Diva album. Check this out, yo:

Now…Hear this
Pay attention to me
'cause I’m a rich white girl and it’s plain to see!
I got every kind of thing that money can buy
Let me tell you all about it!
Let me amplify!
I got diamonds…you heard about those!
I got so many that I can’t close my safe
at night
in the dark
Lying awake in a sick dream…*

I loved me some Annie Lennox before I heard her rap, but I fell in LOVE with the diva after. It’s something about the unexpectedness of the rap and her mean-as-hell delivery which makes “Money Can’t Buy It” one of her best songs. Yes, up there with “Why”. Of course, IMHO.

It seems to me that many white people simply don’t care for rap. And many of these many are white women. Maybe if there were more white women out there flowin’, and flowin’ in their own ways, talking about their own lives, we’d see the genre open up to include all experiences, not just the urban, thug-life kind. Personally, I think American rap music needs more diversity. Not necessarily to maintain itself, but to really become a mature, timeless art form.

I’d like examples of white women rapping, but also instances of folks rapping who, like Annie Lennox, you’d never expect to rap. There are two reasons I’m doing this: First, I’d like to add stuff to my library. It has grown stale. I also hope that Dopers who absolutely despise rap might see an artist mentioned that they love and maybe change their misconceptions about the art form.

2

Well, there was the time that my white, suburban, nominally Jewish mother decided that rap was a valid form of poetry, so she should write some. And perform it. In front of my sister and her friends, who were in high school at the time.

Sadly, nobody captured it in recorded form.

3

Lady Sovereign. She’s a total chav, but whatever.

Supposedly she’s garnering quite a bit of popularity here in the US.

Here’s the youtube video for her new single, Love Me or Hate Me.

I think it’s rather catchy. Reminiscent of Missy Elliot’s early work, IMO.

She’s the only one I can think of.

Eh. Didn’t Madonna do a rap song once?

4

Lady Sovereign rocks. Hilarious and smart.

Northern State has a solid reputation.

Some off Lily Allen’s stuff has a rap quality to it…again, she’s great…

Carmen Electra got her start rapping for Prince…

5

Thanks a lot…that website just damn near gave me a heart attack. I’m referring here to the pounding fist that pops up on the screen, with a loud sound effect, with no warning whatsoever.

Made me jump out of my seat!!

:eek:

6

I thought the little old lady in The Wedding Singer was jookin’!

7

Nellie McKay raps on the song “Sari” on her excellent genre-spanning double debut album Get Away From Me. She’s not in the hip-hop genre by any means, but she isn’t a bad rapper at all.

8

There’s a truly unfortunate example of such on Joan Jett’s ‘Good Music’ album.

9

monstro, I think it’ll happen in the coming generation, the li’l gals will get it and apply the technique soon, because it sheer works.

Blues was a good code, too, and it took a good three decades for whites to ably articulate it at all. Hopefully, things move quicker these days.

Older white gal who loves Rap from 70’s days, sees the poetic beauty and strength, should be taught in schools as a absolute form of art*

10

Princess Superstar.

“All right kid you gotta go to bed,
I know its only 6 but my boy just came over and he wants me to give him head
Sit his bare ass on the couch where you watch Small Wonder
Next time you see Vicky the spot’ll be sticky
cuz I sucked his dicky and used your mom’s cucumber.”

That’s gold.

11

Check out Flow.

She’s moved away from rap and more into R&B.
Unfortunately (for the purpose of illustration for this discussion), the songs on her MySpace page represent more of the R&B thing, not so much the rap thing. But if you like her R&B stuff, you’d dig her rap as well. The first album is pretty much all rap, the second and third get more into R&B.

12

The greatest, no question?

13

OIks. Meant to hit “go advanced,” stead of “post quick reply.”

The greatest, no question? Peaches. Whose latest album is entitled . . . Impeach My Bush. Run, don’t walk. Own it. Learn it. Love it.

14

Ani DiFranco raps a lot. “Fuel” comes to mind. I guess it’s more like spoken word, but it’s not too much of a stretch to consider it rap. But you definitely expect her to do so, so that’s not a lot of help for the OP.

Regina Spektor raps sometimes, like on “Pavlov’s Daughter” and “Consequence of Sounds.” It’s a bit more unexpected than with Ani, but I don’t know that one can expect anything but craziness from Regina.

15

At the risk of embarrassing myself to the world at large, a few years back, there was a horrible realty show a few years ago I watched called “The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliot.” There were a few white female rappers, and I suspect they were chosen for the William Hung factor- they were so laughably bad, they seemed to be intended to convince the audience that white girls can’t rap.

The winner, on the other hand, was a black R&B singer with a truly beautiful voice.

16

No need to be embarrassed. I watched that show. I agree that the white female rappers on that show were bad, but the white guys were smokin’. Especially the one with the dreads.

Everyone on that show sucked (including the winner) except for him IMHO.

17

M.I.A. raps too.

18

Well, this raises the ugly question of race. Mathangi Arulpragasam, who records as M.I.A., is not black, but she is Sri Lankan. So . . . does the OP mean “non-African-American women,” or, specifically, European-descended women?

19

I am not sure, that is why I mentioned her. Are they considered of Asian stock, or Caucausian? Hmm, Wikipedia seems to be saying she would be Asian, since her father wasTamil?