2020 Was The Year Female Rappers Dominated
In 2020, there were many ways to understand the year in music; this week, we're considering five. It's been a long journey for women to get their critical and commercial dues in hip-hop, but the past year came replete with glimpses of progress. First, the facts: For a brief period in May, four Black women—Nicki Minaj alongside Doja Cat on "Say So" and Beyoncé alongside Megan Thee Stallion on "Savage" — occupied the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100. That two-week span marked historic moments for Nicki, Doja and Megan, all of whom scored their first No. 1s, and for "Say So," which became the first single by two female rappers to reach the top of the chart. Cardi B later joined their ranks with her fabulously naughty collaboration with Megan, "WAP." Of course, these measures and milestones fail to capture the dynamism of women in rap as a whole, a renaissance of sorts which has only seemed to grow in enthusiasm and breadth since Cardi's first historic run in 2017. To know what tomorrow sounds like, one need only listen to the women in rap today. They are creating scenes within scenes that speak to and embody the manifold experiences of people who exist across the spectrums of gender and sexual orientation, all while fueling the sounds popularized by artists in and outside of hip-hop. Unbeholden to the narrow representations of old, these 23 songs represent but a handful of the women in rap who left their mark on 2020. —Briana Younger
