Vh1 2016 Hip Hop Honors made me realize...

After a six-year hiatus, VH1's Hip-Hop Honors returned on Monday night with a program dedicated entirely to female rappers. The honorees consisted of Queen Latifiah, Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, and Salt-N-Pepa all which were honored with amazing performances of their hit songs. Remy Ma opened the show with Missy's classic single "Work It."An unexpected Ke Ke Palmer helped honor SaltNPepa with their classic "Push it." Queen Latifah's "U.N.I.T.Y" tribute embraced the Black Lives Matter movement and she also brought together Da Brat, MC Lyte, and Monie Love honoring them since they were not a part of the main stage. The Bad Boy family lit up stage with the exception of Rich Homie Quan stumbling over Biggie's lyrics during Lil Kim's honor.   

Naturally these major tributes honoring the woman in hip hop provoke thoughts like; where are the female artist? 

Since Nicki Minaj's album, Pink Friday there hasn't been any new dominant female rappers. Iggy Azalea tried to take the spotlight, but eventually failed. Nicki Minaj has remained the center of the female rap industry since 2010 without any possible competitors. I believe competition ultimately creates a better product, implying that because there were more mainstream female rappers in the early 2000s that the content is what carried their name. Once you realize that Missy Elliot, Eve, Trina and Lil Kim were all established artist during the same generation, you know something or one is on the brink to explode. However the problem I see with the current industry is that people tend to focus on "recreating" the golden era of hip hop, but in actuality upcoming artist especially the women needs to embrace their uniqueness. 

I wanted to post the best performance, but this was funnier. Sorry hip hp fans lol