As you may know, sample just aired the annual Hip-Hop Honors Awards Special, and BET is set to air their own award show on Oct. 23. You may also have heard that neither has nominated a single female rapper for anything.

The absence of women from these award shows is disappointing, but hardly shocking; female emcees no longer have a high profile. Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown and Remy Ma are better known for their tabloid troubles than their music these days. Long-awaited records by Eve and Shawnna have yet to materialize, and while hip-hop groups in the '90s from Flipmode Squad to The Firm often included a token woman, crews these days are almost always no-girls-allowed boys’ clubs.

Many of the great emcees of yesteryear have gone MIA and not many new artists of any prominence have come to take their place. Still, while obvious go-to awards show favorite Missy Elliott wasn't up to much this year, she did have that single from Step Up 2: The Streets, and both Trina and Li'l Mama had relatively well-received new albums. As I've written about before, Jean Grae finally released Jeanius, and it was one of the best records of the year, period. You'd think BET could have scraped together something. And VH1's show honors artists who've made historic contributions to the genre, so they were definitely allowed to dig into the past.

This problem is way bigger than hip-hop; because we live in a racist and sexist culture, there are limited spaces for black women in pop culture across the board. It's unsurprising that the music industry is not clamoring for female rappers — hip-hop as a genre prizes aggression and a quick wit. Put these qualities together in a black woman and it's way too threatening to a white supremacist patriarchy. Black women have and will continue to push through anyway, but it's not for lack of obstacles. … continue reading

In 2008, Jean Grae released Jeanius, one of the year's best albums. Now the album's follow-up, The Evil Jeanius (dig that subtle title), will drop Sept. 30, and Grae won't see a cent from its sales.

Grae is your favorite rapper's favorite ghostwriter. "More ignored than the homeless on a train begging for change/more credit due to me than a store that doesn't exchange," as she says. She who acknowledges her "dykey fans" on "Mean" and belongs on everyone's top five emcees list, who shows up the great Talib Kweli on every track they do together, blew Akrobatik, Lif and El-P out of the water on the stunning "Post Mortem."

This latest exercise in artistic exploitation comes to us from the Babygrande label, which previously pulled the same thing with The Orchestral Files, a deluxe double CD deal that Grae claims she'd never heard a word about till it was already in stores. I actually paid for the thing, in a misguided effort to support one of my favorite artists. Grae deserves support, so save your cash for Jeanius and get these rhymes some other way if you're a "completist" (as you should be).

It's been a colorful summer for Ms. Grae. According to an interview with the Village Voice, the label that actually does pay her decided that the track "My Story," a brilliant and brutal autobiographical tale of abortion and miscarriage, would make a great video. The treatment they gave her had a bizarrely upbeat ending, and when Grae balked, they just shrugged and went on with the show without her: … continue reading

The most hurtful thing being that it's such an important song. The personal part of me baring my soul is fine. The political aspect of it — you couldn't have a more pro-choice song. So now, in essence, what you've done is taken the choice away for the video for the song called "My Story." I think it's the most disrespectful thing ever.

NewNowNext bloggers Colin and John recently interviewed the Brooklyn-based lesbian hip-hop/pop band OMG Michelle.

Their producer, DJ Kingdom, is also along for the ride.

For more info about OMG Michelle, visit their MySpace page.

"Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" Mary J. Blige may have six Grammy awards, as many No. 1 hits on the hip-hop charts, and recent duets with Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin (not to mention a coveted spot on Malinda's Funk/Soul mixtape), but she's not perfect — or so she would have us believe, according to a new interview with MTV about her forthcoming album.

"We're all a work in progress," she says, and describes Growing Pains as an effort to keep moving forward after her Breakthrough. Down-to-earth and open as always, Blige is one work in progress I'm happy to witness.

My latest opportunity to see Blige came along last week, with the premiere of her video for the first Growing Pains single. In true MJB fashion, "Just Fine" has hints of the confessional, but really it's a fun, up-tempo track that gives her a chance to move — and move she does, through electronic backdrops and too many costume changes to bother counting right into a serious set of heels and a just-as-serious tie. … continue reading

Filmmaker Tata Amaral named her musical drama Antônia in honor of her storytelling great-grandfather, but it makes me think of the two Antonias I already admire and adore: Willa Cather's My Ántonia and the matriarch of Dutch film Antonia's Line. If the four women at the center of the new Brazilian film possess the same strength as their real and fictional forebears, they'll do more than just survive — but survival comes first, and their fight for it is the subject of Antônia. The film is currently playing in New York, Newark and Los Angeles, with dates planned in additional cities soon.

As if positive name associations and a movie poster describing women on stage as glorious warriors aren't enough, the film is earning generally excellent reviews for its realistic depiction of the musical and personal challenges faced by São Paulo residents and aspiring rap artists Preta, Lena, Barbarah and Mayah (Negra Li, Cindy, Leilah Moreno and Quelynah respectively). All four stars are actual rap, hip-hop and pop musicians rather than professional actors; they wrote some of the music in the film and still perform together. It's no wonder they're each so natural with a mic. … continue reading

Lately I can't stop listening to Northern State's new album, Can I Keep This Pen?, which was released August 28 and has been getting great reviews.

Hip-hoppers Sprout, Hesta Prynn and Spero can keep all of my pens if they want to. The trio, which is named after the Northern State Parkway on Long Island, sort of sounds like a cross between Luscious Jackson and Le Tigre, only less mellow and less riotous, respectively. But not less luscious or less, uh, tiger-y. Rrrawr.

Here's the video for "Better Already," in which these fine MCs make it clear that they don't need to leave the living room to have a good time — but a few rainbows and unicorns can really make their day. (Am I the only one who feels like saying "Planet Unicorn, heyyyy" after watching this?) … continue reading