Women in Hip Hop Honored at Harlem Ceremony
via The Source
Harlem stood up to honor MC Lyte and Roxanne Shante, among others this past weekend in the first ever Women In Hip-Hop Awards ceremony held at the Hip-Hop Culture Center in Harlem. More than worthy of the accolades they received throughout the evening, Lyte and Shante were revered as true pioneers in the game, with careers that span more than 20 years in Hip-Hop. The event sparked a great commingling of their past achievements and continued success coupled with a slew of a new generation of female emcees who felt inspired to rock the mic.
“It’s absolutely a dream come true to have an event like this that pays tribute to the women that were before me,” says Gypsy. Many of the performers showed their gratitude and spoke on behalf of all female emcees and on the plight they each face in a traditionally, male-driven industry. In the showcase hosted by Amanda Diva, artists like Atlas, Kween Kash, Likwuid Stylez and Gypsy captivated the audience with their lyrical skills, serving as proof that the efforts of past generations were not in vain.
In fact, Atlas went on to perform Shante’s “Roxanne’s Revenge” and Lyte’s “Lyte As A Rock,” blazing the honorees with an impromptu performance that was nothing short of priceless. Shante was awarded the Lady Legend Hip-Hop Award for being one of the first female emcees to debut back in the early ’80s, while MC Lyte was awarded the Renaissance Woman of Hip-Hop award for her extensive yet diverse career within the genre. Among the other honorees were Sha-Rock, Cindy Cambell, Gamillah-Lamumba Shabazz, Amanda Diva, Jazzy Joyce, Sherri Sher and Danyel Smith.
“I can tell just from the flow of this that there’s going to be a resurgence. And it’s going to be grassroots just like it was back in the day,” MC Lyte said optimistically of the future of the female emcee. Despite there being a strong presence of female emcees in the underground, yet the presence of women in the mainstream is not quite as abundant. Legends MC Lyte and Roxanne Shante couldn’t agree more that the plight of the female emcee will exist for some time to come, but from the looks of it, they’re just getting started.
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