The Hip-hop genre has been categorically male-dominated in the world and the Nigerian music industry is not any different. Despite that, we had some female lyricist like Sasha, Weird MC, Bouqui, Kels, Blaise, and Muna who was quite feisty in delivering heavy punchlines and wordplays back in the days. These ladies were major competitors for the men with strong auras that showed they didn’t come to play.
While their talents were clearly patent, none of these ladies stayed relevant than we craved for. Even Eva and Pryse who were somewhat strong contenders aren’t actively promulgating the culture as expected.
Perhaps, the emergence of femcees like Tipsy and Ms. Chief will give the rap genre a new face and make it more appealing to music lovers. Interestingly, I heard about Tipsy and Ms. Chief individually for the first time, a few days ago, and figured out they have been around for a hot minute. What I find quite similar about both acts is their style – it had some form of street-essence combined with the use of the indigenous language, Yoruba, as a major form of communication garnished with instantly catchy and memorable chorus.
Tispy’s debut came via a tribute to DaGrin in 2011. A few months later, the rapper joined forces with the defunct collective, Big Boyz All Star, JJC’s second attempt at revamping a crew after artists that formerly comprised his JJC/419 squad took on solo careers. Tipsy has been releasing material ever since, with names like Olamide, Ice Prince and Dammy Krane amongst others in her archive of collaborations.
She recently released a new single accompanied by a video titled “Hello” where she jumped on the shaku shaku train and delivered a spectacular performance while using satiric expressions to convey her message. This was a follow up of her 2017 single, “E Da Kun” which is my favorite by the way, as she touches on some of her struggles and reaffirms her enthusiasm and purpose as an entertainer. In my opinion, Tipsy is not just a pretty face, but also offers a complete package for stardom.
Ms. Chief, on the other hand, released her official EP titled The Boss Lady under the BeatBuxx360 imprint in April 2013 but not until she dropped two of her singles, “Daddy Davido” – an ode to the Billionaire Businessman and father of one of Africa’s biggest artist, Davido and most recently, “Burst my Brain”, I began paying attention to this rare talent.
While the former had more commercial appeal with the shaku shaku embellishment, the latter made room to showcase her lyrical prowess accompanied with a 2D Animated video created by Nigerian Hip-hop artist Fecko. The video depicts Cameo appearances by Cassper Nyovest, Olamide, Wizkid, ED Shereen, Drake, Sarkodie, Banky W just to mention a few.
With this two acts staying strong and consistent we may just have found our female hood ambassadors and just like the men who have fittingly represented the streets with the likes of Olamide, Small Doctor, Reminisce, and the raves of the moment – Mr. Real and Slimcase, among others, these femcees are staking their place in entertainment while I look forward to seeing them impress further with more releases that could gain them more recognition and hopefully, win some accolades.
