Let’s Talk About The Female MCs Who Shaped Hip-Hop

In China’s male-dominated world, being a woman in any profession that requires leadership or visibility is a difficult task. For a long time, the entertainment landscape for women back home was defined by pop idols: talented women who, however, had to fit into a narrow mold. Chinese pop icons had to look beautiful, project innocence and sex appeal at the same time, and only restrict themselves to saccharine lyrics focused on love and partying without much real substance. Unlike in the United States, where female rappers have shaped this musical genre, though their contributions were ignored or understated, in China, women were rarely given the opportunity to rise to prominence in the rap world. However, with the advent of the show “The Rap of China,” which democratized access to rap music, women who were first selected as contestants as curiosities finally had the chance to prove their verbal dexterity and offer a new, socially-conscious vision for Chinese hip-hop.

Female rappers VaVa and Vinida represent a new movement of female rappers who demand women’s empowerment and a shift towards equality in China’s patriarchal landscape, each in her own unique way. I remember being very moved watching VaVa’s rendition of “Life’s a Struggle,” one of the most popular Chinese songs, on “The Rap of China.” What was shockingly courageous about this performance is that VaVa made the song her own: she changed the lyrics to reflect her own rough upbringing and showcase her resilience. This act of personal vulnerability left a deep impression on me because it was one of the first public instances of a female musician reclaiming a masculine song and showing that women don’t have to be perfect to be taken seriously. Similarly, despite the media’s attempts to objectify rapper Vinida for her looks, she built a career out of singing about female empowerment, introducing the American idea of queendom to Chinese pop culture.