Throughout rap history, a hot 16 has been the most prominent way to earn your credibility in hip-hop. For females, however, there’s usually been a little more than lyrics being pushed to appeal to a market geared strongly towards men. We’ve seen female MC’s like MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and even Missy Elliott be able to earn bragging rights over their bars in the earlier years, but they still never sold quite like Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, and today’s Nicki Minaj. The major difference between these two female rapper groups has been incorporating sex appeal into their styles.

Of course, a male-dominated music genre is going to want to see some skin and seduction go down in order to pay attention, but is that what hip-hop needs in another era where turn-up music sells more than innovation? Don’t get me wrong, I definitely catch myself letting out some drool when I see a new photo of today’s artists showing their cleavage and hourglass figures, or Lil’ Kim’s Hard Core and Notorious K.I.M. album covers, but is that always going to attract me to want to bump their tracks? Not necessarily.

While there’s no denying that Kimberly, and Foxy have shown their fair share of extraordinary lyrical abilities, as a straight female hip-hop fan, the sexual marketing doesn’t enhance that all that much for me. There are a few who have earned the title of untouchable on the mic in hip-hop, but many times, a lot of that has to do with her marketing, rather than being the best female rapper as far as bars go. There are a ton of female MC’s out there who aren’t selling millions of records, but are speaking some lyrics that need to be heard.