Conspiracy Against Smart Female Rappers?
“Poon Tang Clan” by Ursula Rucker (on her excellent third album, Ma’at Mama, due January 31 on !K7 Records) is sure to stir up controversy in the hiphop underground. A renowned spoken-word poet/MC, Rucker busts the balls of female-objectifying sexists on this witty riposte set to a stark, ominous funk foundation of just drums, cymbals, and stylus-on-vinyl crackle.
Besides possessing the sexiest, sweetest pipes in hiphop, Rucker wields a biting, articulate vocab. I keep waiting for her to blow up, but maybe the mainstream isn’t ready for an intelligent female rapper with liberal viewpoints. Who’s replicated Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill’s commercial success in the last decade or so? Are there, as I suspect, nefarious forces only allowing women who act like XX-chromosomed thugs and sexbots to get widespread media exposure? Or is there really a dearth of witty women mic-wielders? Or am I just overlooking some talented distaff wordsmiths? Mizell? Schmader? Anybody?
it is so awesome when black people are articulate. I can't wait to hear this witty riposte for myself.