Best female rappers in Africa.
Hip hop remains a male dominated sport despite the emergence of new female rappers such as Rapsody, Phlow, Cardi B, Mulatto and even Young M.A.
One of the reasons hip hop will continue to remain male dominated is the lack of SERIOUS female talents in the genre. None of which can ever hold their own for more than two minutes. The continent (Africa) has also had its own share of women rappers but in habitual fashion, they’re never able to sustain it long enough to gain a cult following. Is it a lack of talent, or are women not interested enough? Female rappers claim nobody takes them seriously in hip hop, (sort of like females in politics), as much as there’s a facet of truth to the aforementioned statement, it’s not the sole reason they fall off. Ok
The likes of Nigeria’s Sasha … who I honestly believe was seriously overrated (no offense), was regarded as a great despite having lyrics that were mostly mundane. Well, at least she was consistent for a minute. Eva Alordiah (Nigeria) and, Xtatic (Kenya), are also popular names who seem to have vanished. (Editor’s note: Eva recently dropped her much delayed 1960 album but it was already too little too late). Xtatic on the other hand has just been poorly managed. Female MC’s in general have never been able to hold their own for long in an industry that’s highly competitive.
Bombshell (Zambia)
Bombshell is Zambia’s leading lady in rap. The volatile rapper broke into the scene in an aggressive way with “Bad Mothafucker” featuring Bulo Man, TR and 5ive 4our and hasn’t looked back ever since. She describes her sound as “Unique, diverse, authentic and explosive.” Bombshell doesn’t hold back lyrically and like her name suggests, she’s explosive.
Rouge (Congo/South Africa)
Rouge is still new school so the jury is still out on her, however if you have ever heard her rap then I’m sure you won’t deny her talents. With the ability to both sing and rap in English as well as French, Rouge is one of Africa’s brightest sparks in female rap right now.
Over the course of her still relatively new career she has worked with the likes of AKA, Reason, Moozlie and even opened for Cassper Nyovest. Her bars are feisty and filled with the cockiness you’d expect from a young emcee. The spotlight is on Rouge with the crazy hair right now, how she uses it depends entirely on her.
Nadia Nakai (South Africa)
Nadia Nakai is Family Tree’s first lady and the most popular name on this list. She had already created a buzz for herself before Cassper swooped in but the platform Family Tree provides is much bigger than anything she had when she was independent.
Phlow (Nigeria)
Phlow is fucking nice fam!! She’s also a menace.
Signed with Str8Buttah productions, Phlow has been low-key killing it with consistent materials and high volume wordplay for at least three years now. Over the years she has taken time to harness her talents and perfect her showmanship, holding her own in male dominated rap competitions and cyphers.
The Lagos based rapper has been featured on top hip hop websites across the world including Creative-HipHop.com, HipHopDX, The Source and 2DBZ. Phlow is not afraid of a rap challenge and it’s about time people start to take her seriously.
Keko (Uganda)
Eno (Ghana)
This lady from Ghana is a beast on the mic, in her own words .. she’s got “balls” (She said it not me). Tough wordplay, ability to switch flows, aggression, drive and an intimidating figure, Eno got it all.