10 Best FEMALE Rappers of ALL TIME!

Women are powerhouses in all industries. Accordingly, SpeakYourMind applaud ALL female rappers!

Here are the top 10 Best FEMALE Rappers of ALL TIME!

#10: Iggy Azalea

Rapper Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Amelia Kelly in Sydney, Australia, in June 1990 and grew up in the Australian countryside. Moving to the U.S. just before her 16th birthday, Azalea ended up in Los Angeles and cut her first mixtape, Ignorant Art, in 2011. When her rap career wouldn't take off, Azalea turned to modeling, but the success she found there would be interrupted by her dream: magazine covers and record deals. With her 2014 release, The New Classic, Azalea took the music world by storm, and the single "Fancy" became the song of the summer.

#9: Queen Latifah

"Queen Latifah is an American rapper, record producer and actress known for her roles in the films Set it Off, Bone Collector, Last Holiday and Chicago."
Famed musician and actress Queen Latifah was born on March 18, 1970, in Newark, New Jersey. Her debut album All Hail to the Queen sold more than 1 million copies, and the single "U.N.I.T.Y" earned Latifah her first Grammy Award. Latifah has also garnered acclaim for acting; she earned her first Oscar nomination (best supporting actress) for her performance in the blockbuster musical Chicago.

#8: Trina

Katrina Laverne Taylor (born December 3, 1978), better known by her stage name Trina, is an American rapper and model. Trina first gained notoriety in 1998 with her appearance on Trick Daddy's second studio album on the single. Since then, she has released five moderately successful studio albums. XXL Magazine calls her "the most consistent female rapper of all time".

Source Magazine celebrated Trina's career for the 2012 Women's History month. In 2013, Complex Magazine ranked "Pull Over" #27 in their Top 50 Best Rap Songs by Women. In 2014, Trina was included in Billboard‍ 's list of the "31 Female Rappers Who Changed Hip-Hop".

#7: Eve

Eve Jihan Jeffers-Cooper (born November 10, 1978) is an American hip hop recording artist and actress from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is also the inaugural winner of the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2002, for the song "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", with American singer Gwen Stefani. Eve was number 48 on VH1's "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era" list.

As an actress, Eve is known for her roles as Terri Jones in the films Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and as Shelley Williams on the UPN television sitcom Eve. She has also achieved success in fashion, with her clothing line, Fetish.

#6: Nicki Minaj
"Hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj was featured in seven songs on Billboard's Hot 100 at the same time, even before the release of her debut album in 2010."

Born in 1982, famed hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj grew up with an abusive, drug-addicted father. After attending La Guardia High School for the Arts, she was introduced to rapper Lil Wayne, who launched her career. Her 2010 debut album, Pink Friday, and her single, "Your Love," topped the Billboard charts. A frequent "cameo" singer, Minaj's voice was featured in seven songs on Billboard's Hot 100 in 2010. In 2012, Minaj was announced as one of the new judges of the popular singing show American Idol twelfth season. She also released the hit album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded that same year.

#5: Foxy Brown

Inga DeCarlo Fung Marchand (born September 6, 1978), better known by her stage name Foxy Brown, is an American rapper, model, and actress. She is best known for her solo work, as well as numerous collaborations with other artists and her brief stint as part of hip hop group The Firm. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, her father Keith Stahler abandoned the family at a young age to pursue his career at ERAC records. Her albums include Ill Na Na in 1996, followed by Chyna Doll in 1999, and Broken Silence in 2001. She also performed on the 1997 self-titled album by the Firm, the only album to be released by that group to date. Throughout her career, Brown has held an extensive arrest record and served some time in jail. After 2001, she continued recording verses for herself and other artists but did not release any albums; she left the Def Jam label in 2003, thus cancelling the release of her Ill Na Na 2 album. However, she returned to the label in January 2005 after then-Def Jam president and CEO Jay-Z signed her back to begin work on her new album Black Roses. In December 2005, she began suffering from hearing loss, which put her career on hiatus until the next summer, a few months after surgery. A fourth studio album, which originally was a mix-tape, was released in May 2008 following many delays spawned by a jail sentence that Brown served for assault.

#4: Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill was born in South Orange, New Jersey, on May 26, 1975. In 1998, Lauryn Hill released her solo debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and became the first woman or hip-hop artist to win five Grammy Awards—for album of the year, best new artist, best female R&B performance, best R&B song ("Doo Wop (That Thing)") and best R&B album.

#3: MC Lyte

MC Lyte was one of the first female rappers to point out the sexism and misogyny that often runs rampant in hip-hop, often taking the subject head on lyrically in her songs and helping open the door for such future artists as Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Lyte began rhyming at the age of 12, which eventually led to a single, "I Cram to Understand U," which led to a recording contract with the First Priority label. MC Lyte's debut full-length, Lyte As a Rock, surfaced in 1988, while a follow-up,Eyes on This, followed a year later. Both discs are considered to be the finest of the rapper's career, especially her sophomore effort, which spawned the hit single "Cha Cha Cha" (peaking at number one on the rap charts) and the anti-violence track "Cappucino." Lyte turned to Bell Biv DeVoe's writers and producers Wolf & Epic for her third release overall, 1991's Act Like You Know, a more soul music-based work than its predecessors and in 1993, issued Ain't No Other (the album's popular single, "Ruffneck," earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Single and turned out to be the first gold single ever achieved by a female rap artist).

#2: Missy Elliott

Missy Elliott was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, on July 1, 1971. Elliott worked as a songwriter and producer before getting her own record label. Her inventive style and ability to transcend hip-hop's ideas about women gave her five platinum albums in a row—including her debut album, Supa Dupa Fly—and numerous honors, including five Grammy Awards. With success as a performer, songwriter and producer, Elliott became hip-hop's first female mogul.

#1: Lil Kim

OCCUPATION: Reality Television Star, Rapper

BIRTH DATE: July 11, 1975 (age 40)

EDUCATION: Brooklyn College Academy, Queen of All Saints

PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York

ZODIAC SIGN

Cancer

Lil' Kim was born on July 11, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York. The rapper debuted as part of Biggie Smalls's group Junior M.A.F.I.A and released her solo debut album, Hard Core, in 1996. She found success in the 1990s and 2000s with hits like "Magic Stick," "Crush on You" and a remake of "Lady Marmalade." Kim served prison time in 2005-2006 for perjury, later releasing mix-tapes and doing reality television work.