Grime is hot, we all know that. With the likes of Skepta (his long anticipated album Konnichiwa coming out this year), Bonkaz, Stormzy and many more, this UK genre is taking over the world. Not least because superstars such as Drake and Chris Brown have shown great interest in the genre. Let’s consider this a good thing, since Grime goes way back and many have been deprived of the amazing music for many years. Simply because they just didn’t know.

Truth be told, I was one of them. My dear colleagues at Rockstone (who lived in London for many years) introduced me to the genre a few years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. Not that I’m a connaisseur now, I still have loads to learn/discover. But what recently struck me is that the Grime and UK rap-scene is one dominated by men. And even though these men make amazing music, I had to do some searching to discover there are some badass lady MC’s out there that deserve our attention. Of course, there are some old skool predecessors that paved the way – think Shystie and Lioness – but they’ve sort of disappeared from view. It’s time to put these modern day ‘femcees’ in the spotlight and hope more women will arise that drop rhymes as good (or better) as any other guy out there!

NoLay

NoLay (Isabella Gotti) has been around since 2004 and is praised for raw rhymes and clever wordplay. And although she’s one tough cookie who can match up to her male colleagues, she does not like to be compared to male emcees, but acknowledged as herself. More power to her!

FYI: at the moment NoLay is severly injured after a dramatic car crash. Let’s all hope she will recover quickly.

Lady Leshurr

Best known for her (5) Queen’s Speech freestyles, this woman is on top of her game. Her rhymes are sharp, witty and combined with some accessible tunes. Lady Leshurr will definitely make you bounce and grow to like the music female grime MC’s produce.

A.Dot (Amplify Dot)

Like the two above mentioned ladies, ‘Dotty’ was part of the all-female crew 367, formed by Ms. Dynamite (listen to the ‘Neva Soft’ remix), but is much more than that. She’s also a broadcaster at BBC 1Xtra, A&R consultant at Parlophone record label and owner of her clothing label Quiff Head. A.Dot‘s a busy bee, that will keep running and delivering!

Paigey Cakey

This multi-talent acts, sings and raps. Her sound is more like a fusion of R&B, Rap, Trap and Hip Hop. She has collaborations with artists from Stormzy to Chip and displays with Paigey Cakey an alter-ego that’s outspoken and confident. Paigey admits it’s hard to conquer the music industry she says in her track ‘Day One’ and in an interview with Mobo: “(…) it’s a male dominated scene, for females it’s like you’ve really got to make a mark, you’ve got to do something where guys are gonna be like “Yeah I like you”. But you’ve got to stay consistent with it too and show them you can do this as they just think you’re not capable of it.” Nonetheless, she’s crafting her way into that ‘male-dominated’ world and hopefully paving the way for other talented women to follow.

Cleo.

Formerly known as Mz. Bratt, this lady made quite the transformation since she started out as a Grime MC in 2006. Under the new name of Cleo. she still raps on her tracks now and then, but the artist now added an accessible r&b sound. So, strictly taken, she doesn’t quite fit the list now, but her music is still worth a listen!

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