What higher option to have fun ladies than by chanting alongside to a few of their biggest girl-power hits? For Girls’s Historical past Month, we’ve gathered a few of our favourite anthems by ladies rappers — and some singers who dipped into the style — who vary from licensed legends to burgeoning stars.
Based on a latest Spotify-funded examine from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, lower than 25% of the artists on Billboard’s Sizzling 100 12 months-Finish chart for 2021 have been ladies–one thing that has gone just about unimproved over the past decade. In relation to songwriters, the numbers are much more alarming, with ladies comprising 12.7% inside the final ten years. It’s arduous to imagine, with so many licensed hits from ladies throughout genres, which is all of the extra purpose to maintain these uplifting tracks in your rotation.
The round-up spans three many years (starting with Queen Latifah and ending with Ice Spice) and contains widely-acclaimed hits like Lizzo’s chart-topping single lady anthem, “Fact Hurts” to unforgettable Y2K favorites like “Bossy” by Kelis, all of the whereas retaining you ready to dominate no matter is to return, no matter your gender. Some artists on the record even sampled songs from artists who got here earlier than them, for instance Lizzo sampling Lauryn Hill’s “Doo-Wop (That Factor)” on her 2022 album reduce, “Break Up Twice.”
Some cuts encourage us to demand the respect we deserve whereas others merely get us within the temper to come out with our baddie buddies. Whereas we might’ve listed a couple of hundred extra, listed here are 15 ear-worm anthems to get you began.
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Queen Latifah, “U.N.I.T.Y.“
If intuition leads Queen Latifah “to a different stream” each time she hears a person “name a woman a b—h or a ho,” then she should’ve written fairly a couple of raps. Whereas misogyny doesn’t appear to be going anyplace anytime quickly, Latifah’s 1993 Grammy-winning single “U.N.I.T.Y.” serves as a therapeutic balm to ladies coping with disrespect throughout the numerous sides of life. On the monitor, the long-lasting rapper fights again in opposition to situations of sexual harassment, abuse and cat-calling, providing golden recommendation: “A person don’t actually love you if he hits ya/ That is my discover to the door, I’m not takin’ it no extra.”
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Lauryn Hill, “Doo-Wop (That Factor)”
Picture Credit score: Frank Micelotta Archive/Getty Photographs One of many biggest rappers of our time regardless of solely releasing one studio album, Lauryn Hill has confirmed time and time once more that high quality trumps amount. Whereas many cuts from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill proceed to permeate popular culture at massive, “Doo-Wop (That Factor)” stays probably the most anthemic, spending two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 and marking Hill’s first and solely go to to the highest spot on the chart. You’d be hard-pressed to discover a lady who can’t rap at the least one verse of the truth-filled single phrase for phrase, particularly the lyric, “Child lady, respect is only a minimal.”
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Eve, “Who’s That Woman?”
If you happen to ever want to achieve that last enhance of confidence earlier than asking for a increase, confronting your ex or just need to step exterior figuring out you’re *that* lady, Eve’s obtained one thing for you. The then-first girl of Ruff Ryders Leisure set off her sophomore album, Scorpion, with a bang, releasing the supergirl reduce that went on to look on the Sizzling 100, US Rhythmic and Sizzling R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. “Energy strikes is made each day by this thorough b—h/ I’ma get this financial institution any approach that I do that shit,” she raps.
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Missy Elliott, “Work It”
“If you happen to’re a fly gal, get your nails achieved/ Get a pedicure, get your hair did,” Missy Elliott instructs on the Timbaland-produced “Work It.” An anthem celebrating ladies of all styles and sizes, Missy’s “Work It” represents a reclaiming of girls’s energy over their our bodies, sexuality and wishes. Whereas the still-heavily-rotated reduce by no means made it to No. 1 on the Sizzling 100 (“Lose Your self” by Eminem claimed the highest spot for twelve consecutive weeks), “Work It” remained at No. 2 for ten weeks and caught in our heads without end.
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Kelis, “Bossy”
Kelis taught us the vital lesson that being favored isn’t required to be revered. Particularly when you’re a boss. The Harlem cool lady who gave us “Milkshake” in 2003 continued to exude H.B.I.C. power with this 2006 reduce, which turned Kelis’ third Sizzling 100 entry. That includes Bay Area legend Too $hort, the bouncy monitor is bound to get you feeling unapologetically badass.
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Remy Ma, “Immodest”
Earlier than physique positivity and affirmations turned sizzling subjects, we had songs like “Immodest,” Remy Ma’s 3-minute self-love pep speak. “Yeah, okay, I obtained a little bit fats however/ My shorty inform me he prefer it like that,” she raps whereas rolling round blue silk sheets. And why not? She’s immodest, she’s obtained a purpose.
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Beyoncé, “Diva”
Picture Credit score: Kevin Winter/GI Meet Beyoncé’s boisterous, unapologetic alter ego, Sasha Fierce. She first stepped foot on the scene by means of Bey’s hit-filled 2008 album, I Am… Sasha Fierce. In contrast to the candy and bubbly Beyoncé all of us knew, Sasha confidently declares herself the “No. 1 diva within the recreation,” with purpose. In 2023, the pop icon broke the file for many Grammys ever received, bringing in her thirty second gramophone after Renaissance received for finest dance/digital album.
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Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé, “Feeling Myself”
It’s the link-up of all link-ups. On her epic third studio album,The Pinkprint, Nicki Minaj enlisted none aside from Queen Bey for the record-breaking single, “Feeling Myself.” The monitor, co-written by SZA, spent 20 weeks on the Sizzling 100 chart, making it the longest charting non-single by a feminine rapper.
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Rihanna, “Bitch Higher Have My Cash”
There’s a purpose why Rihanna opened up her historic Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present with “B—h Higher Have My Cash.” The monitor is overflowing with assertive, assured and attention-grabbing power, the lately elusive star coming out in an all pink look accentuating her rising child bump. All of the whereas, she effortlessly entranced the group, operating by way of her laundry record of No. 1 tracks and barely breaking a sweat. What’s extra badass than that?
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Metropolis Women, “Act Up”
Picture Credit score: 2020HHA/Getty Photographs by way of Getty Photographs In the event that they don’t play “Act Up,” was the get together actually lively? In 2019, Metropolis Women burst into the mainstream with this epically viral smash hit that galvanized ladies throughout generations. As quickly because the opening melody sounds off within the membership, your entire crowd is bound to scream-chant Yung Miami’s opening verse phrase for phrase … and sure the remainder of the three and a half minute track. It’s all the time the songs that may liven a crowd in a matter of 1 second that stand the take a look at of time, and it’s clear that “Act Up” isn’t any exception.
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Lizzo, “Fact Hurts”
Lizzo introduced us the very best catchphrase of 2019 along with her Sizzling 100 chart-topper, “Fact Hurts.” Whereas “Why males nice til they gotta be nice” is a detailed second, we’ve obtained to offer it to the Detroit-born songwriting genius’ DNA take a look at, declaring that she is, in truth, “100% that b—h.” With “Fact Hurts,” Lizzo completely modified the sport, proving that in 2019, you don’t have to suit an ultra-skinny, white mould to be a fully glamorous pop star.
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Lola Brooke feat. Billy G, “Do not Play With It”
Whereas she stands at a petite four-foot-nine, Lola Brooke isn’t one to mess with. Case-in-point: “Don’t Play With It.” On it, Brooke proves her versatility, asking for a kiss and an prolonged clip. Followers joked that the TikTok-viral reduce was to ladies what Chief Keef songs are to males, quite a few customers posting movies aggressively rapping the lyrics to their boyfriends, who regarded on with a tinge of concern of their eyes. And sure, you ought to be scared.
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Latto, “It is Givin”
Picture Credit score: Gilbert Flores/PMC Latto enlisted a few of our favourite girls in her “It’s Givin” music video, together with Halle Bailey, Ella Mai, Angela Simmons. The monitor is an ode to all ladies, that includes moms, folks with bodily disabilities, healthcare professionals and same-sex {couples} posing for portraits because the “Huge Vitality” singer raps, “Workin’ 9 to five and she or he tryna end faculty/ I convey the desk to the desk, n—a, why would I would like you?”
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GloRilla & Cardi B, “Tomorrow 2”
Following her breakout hit, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” GloRilla had no plans of letting up, enlisting celebrity rapper Cardi B for her comply with up single, “Tomorrow 2.” The monitor is pure female power, with the 2 rappers driving round New York Metropolis with all their girlfriends within the video, twerking on vehicles and in subways, or leaving the bodega munching on Takis corn chips. Cardi’s iconic verse on the reduce is bound to endure on get together playlists for years to return.
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Ice Spice, “Bikini Backside”
No artist took over the previous yr as swiftly and effortlessly as Isis Gaston, higher generally known as Ice Spice. The Bronx native took the world by storm, releasing bop after bop and uplifting the women all of the whereas. Whereas cuts like “Munch (Feelin U)” and her internet-breaking look on PinkPantheress’ “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” dominate her catalog, “Bikini Backside” begs the important query, “How can I lose if I’m already selected?”
