5) Tink
The Winter’s Diary mixtapes showed me that Tink is a gifted singer with incredible vocal range. The Boss Up mixtape was really good, as well. Besides her awesome wordplay, Tink layed down some great metaphors combined with some sick punchlines that left me saying, Damn!
Tink is a stand out on this list because she is multi-talented. She is a great songwriter as well as a great emcee. Listening to Tink reminded me of Nicki Minaj back in 2008 and 2009. Similar to Nicki Minaj back in the days, Tink is young and hungry, and you can hear it in her voice. As much as I praise Tink, I am also very concerned. Over the last 17 years, I’ve heard some really talented female emcees who never blew up. Lady Luck, Vita, Charlie Baltimore, Ms. Jade, Bahamadia and Jean Grae are the among the female emcees who did not get their just due. I hope Tink does not fall in the same category. After all, she is way too talented to be overlooked.
– OBI
4) NoName Gypsy
Who is NoName Gypsy? There has been a substantial amount of buzz about her recently; in light of all this attention, you would assume that we have a better picture of who she is. We don’t know much, but this is what we know: she doesn’t have an LP, she doesn’t have an EP, she doesn’t even have a website. What she does have, though, is a soundcloud account filled with a few tracks. These songs tell us a surprising amount about her.
The first track “Take You Back” plants her feet firmly in the family that Chance the Rapper made famous, save money. She spits with a nonchalant swagger that makes use of light wit and playful imagery. From there, she expands to fill out tracks by Mick Jenkins, and recently negated her famed verse with Chance the Rapper. Her verses on the two tracks, however, are concise and to the point. She gives light to the female side of relationships that we rarely hear about. She even gets a tad bit melancholy with a few lines about her mortality.
She can only expand from here. She has announced that her EP will drop sometime this year. In addition, she’s on tour with Mick Jenkins, Saba, and Kirk Knight. After hearing her this evasive emcee and her quick-tongued lyrical wit, I’d be on the lookout for this come-up of this female emcee. Just don’t call her the female version of male artists.
– B.C.
3) Nitty Scott, MC
Nitty Scott, MC does not take rapping lightly. The lyrical onslaught that is Nitty Scott’s music is tailored towards no one in particular, rather the Brooklyn rapper spits flows up to par with some of the borough’s finest.Scott’s slight rework of “The Bridge Is Over” by Boogie Down Productions on “Tell Somebody” is a perfect example of Nitty killing rappers with her no-nonsense delivery and punchline bars. The emcee’s “Flower Child” comes off as milder than the aforementioned track, but with an assist from Kendrick Lamar and a set of verses filled with delicate, but smart wordplay make for one of Nitty Scott’s best songs yet.
Nitty Scott is probably the antithesis of what hip-hop fans claim as a deterrent from female emcees. She spits really well, and she equally attributes her skill to both a dominant delivery and microphone presence, as well as a high-level knack for wordplay. Scott’s talents are remarkable in their versatility, and it’s easy to say that she’s a force to be reckoned with, regardless of gender or origin.
– STONE
2) Rapsody
It’s no secret that Rapsody is billed as one of the most under-appreciated, or more accurately, under-acknowledged, female emcees today. That term female has been a sticking point among the masses in her burgeoning career and has unfortunately, in some cases, diluted the fact that she’s just an excellent rapper, period. She addresses this conflict on one of her most candid tracks, “Forgive Me (I’m Sorry)” when she raps:
When you be E.T. they alienate all you from your star power/
shitting on the game like my stomach sour, ewww.”
Her sorry-but-not-really approach speaks to someone who is confident in the path she has chosen to take within the industry, whether or not it’s the road most traveled by her peers. Rapsody may have been overlooked yet again for the XXL Freshman list, but as someone who would rather focus on the price of fame over popularity, the craft over mediocre radio hits, and remaining true to herself over bartering her ideals for universal acceptance, she has proven that those accolades are far from what makes a true emcee.
– KIA
1) Dessa
Dessa spent most of 2014 touring in support of her 2013 album, Parts of Speech. Her sophomore album was more ballad-heavy than her first album, but songs like “Fighting Fish” and “Warsaw” proves that she’s an extremely sharp emcee. Dessa dropped a remix EP of Parts of Speech to tide fans over for her next project, which will be with Doomtree. The third Doomtree project, All Hands dropped last week, and surely features some blazing verses from Dessa.
Dessa’s strong suit is her heavily lyrical rhymes that are delivered in half-spoken/half-sung form. Her usual bodacious production on Doomtree tracks perfectly backs her grand presence behind the mic. Dessa is underrated in that her elevated rhymes are often overlooked due to her part in the bigger cast that is Doomtree. On her solo effort though, Dessa can be heard strong-winded and full of breadth in regards to her subject matter and lyrical aptitude. As more and more solo efforts come from the emcee, Dessa can stand as one of the best female rappers to do it.
