The "strong Black woman" image began to deteriorate when Queen Latifah played a gun totting lesbian in the movie Set It OFF. It was on life support when Wyclef got his "superhead" on putting Lauryn Hill on blast about their affair while he was married and how he claimed she told him her first baby was his. And was completely destroyed when Erykah Badu had babies with different rappers only years later to do a video with a white band where she's in a tub full of simulated semen.
I remember the beautiful Ananda Lewis doing teen summit on BET encoraging Black teens to go to college and she'd do it with a straight face....Years later she would be on MTV pulling her shirt up showing her breast " girls gone wild " style with tape on her nipples. Years later after that she's rolling around in a bed half naked with Ray J.
We'll never see that "strong Black woman" image of yesteryear in hip hop again for the same reason someone who is born again cant hang out at a strip club. Mainstream hip hop is too unrighteous, its filled with liars, wannabes, drug addicts, sell outs, low standard braggarts and attention whores. The righteous that dwell amongst the unrighteous long enough will become corrupt in due time just like that born again christian who will sneak off in the corner and get a private lapdance if he hangs out at the strip club long enough.
For all we know Ms Melodie, Harmony and Sista Souljah would go home and act extra ratchet behind closed doors but their public images were that of "Strong Black Women." The "image" is the factor. If the women are reflection of men then it makes sense as to why when 'gangster rap' came we were introduced to Boss and when the promotion of smoking weed in hip hop started to be the norm we were introduced to Da Brat and Lady Of Rage. When the conscious era left so did the image of the "Strong Black Woman." The word "Ho" soon started to become acceptable and we were introduced to Lil Kim, Foxy Brown and Trina. Yes, in the early 90's there were rappers like Choice and BWP who were sexually over the top in their music but they were overshadowed by the likes of the afrocentic Latifah, the sexiness of Salt N Pepa and the aggression of MC Lyte and Yo Yo.
In the new millinium the "hood chick" image would soon be the norm. Lauryn was starting to fall off despite her superstar status. Eve showed promise of being the next MC Lyte...But then she too fell off. Around that same time a pic of Eve during her stripper years along with a teasing sex tape of her and Stevie J popped up out of nowhere on the internet. Remy Ma, who was like a mixture between MC Lyte, Yo Yo and Foxy Brown, shot some chick in the stomach and went to prison. Lil Kim went to prison, Foxy went to prison, Da Brat went to prison, Lauryn went to prison. A lot of our top female rappers saw prison bars in the new millinium.
What happened to the "strong Black woman" image of yesteryear in hip hop? This brings us to Nicki Minaj , who is currently the top female emcee of this decade hands down. Nicki in her own right is a "strong Black woman." You can see in her aggression and hustle that she's surrounded by the right people behind closed doors. Nicki has been able to maintain and sustain success in the testosterone cesspool called the entertainment world. Yet as an entertainer her public image is that of an expensive hoodrat with a plastic body who makes top 40 music while being associated with one of the hottest rap cliques. And this is the standard. In 2014 Nicki Minaj is now what represents a "strong Black woman" in Hip Hop because what she embodies is what it takes to maintain in todays current Hip Hop climate. The "strong Black woman" of yesteryear couldn't survive in this era. In this social media driven era that we are currently in which is filled with hatful comments, Nicki has been able to sustain success in mainstream pop culture. Meanwhile an afrocentric female rapper like Stahhr goes unnoticed in todays pop culture climate and is barely on the radar in Hip Hop's media circle as well. Its all about supply and demand. Everytime Nicki does a sexy photoshoot there's always the "She should just do porn already" comment. Sex on the lowest level is the fuel of what is demanded in females related to todays Hip Hop and its been that way for a while. And as long as that fuel exists the "strong black woman" image of yesteryear will never resurface in Hip Hop.
Almost read this shyt.
