Dear Lauryn Hill ....from the Nu Lane Broadcast on 6/28

During the 2010 BET Awards (yes, i watched them) Nikki Minaj won the award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist. The other nominees were: Esther Dean (never heard of her), Lil Kim

(washed up), Rasheeda (never heard of her) Trina (saddest bitch).

On twitter, my good friend Toure tweeted this:

The whole category – the nominees and the winner- are indicative of the troubled nature of modern female MC’ing

I, of course, retweeted that comment because it was one of the realest things I had read in a long time. What in the hell happened to the REAL female emcee, or femcee if you will. How the hell did we get here.

Growing up, when i turned on BET or The Box, i saw Queen Latifah, Mc Lyte and Salt n Pepa. Queen Latifah had hits like "Ladies First" and "U.N.I.T.Y". I listened to those songs and i wanted to be her. I wanted to be a woman who could hang with the fellas and still hold my own. I could walk with my head held high and get the respect of all my peers. MC Lyte was extra nice on the mic and told beautiful vivid stories each time she graced the mic. And then you had Salt n Pepa, the female version of Run DMC. Sure, they were a little sexier with their wardrobe and lyrics, but there was still a level of female empowerment. With songs like "Express Yourself" and "Independent" I learned to just be myself and how to make my own money and not depend on a man to take care of me. These were valuable lessons. I wasn't a bitch. I wasn't a whore. I was a woman. Just like the women on my TV screen.

And then....something went wrong. One day i looked up and there were posters up everywhere of Lil Kim squatting down in a leopard print bikini with her moose knuckle hanging out. She was "hardcore." Her lyrics were about diamonds, shoes, expensive purses and oral sex. How the hell did we get here? What happened? Is this what i'm supposed to be now? Then Foxy Brown soon followed suit. Then every woman in america wanted to walk around in a fur coat and bikini. At this point i had given up on the femcee. I didn't want to be anything like these "women". I knew that there had to be something better. And there was...

In 1998 a woman by the name of Lauryn Hill dropped her debut album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." Music would change forever. Her album combined her soulful voice and lyrical prowess on track such as "Superstar" and "Doo Wop (That Thing." She could make a song that showed her heartache like "When it hurts so bad" and my favorite "Ex-Factor". She showed how real love actually feels on "Nothing Even Matters." and even her spiritual side on "Tell Him." She made me rethink my life with single "The Mideducation of Lauryn Hill". This woman was more than a record executives idea of a marketing tool: she was the truth.

Then...she left us. She disappeared into thin air. She changed the game and left before she could finish what was needed to be done. i thought for the longest that I was the only one who missed her until i found this post the other day:

(original post on http://www.eurweb.com/?p=16559. In Search of Lauryn Hill: The Obsoletism of the Female Emcee)

Where have you gone Lauryn Hill and how do I get there? Someone has to save the species of the fmale rapper from fading into oblivion or being reduced to mere sex toys. You had so much left to say, so much left oto do, little black girls need you; I can’t go on listening to the Barbie doll with the Tourette’s –like flow. I understand your life has undergone many alterations since “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”, but your story is the story of millions of woman and your voices so powerful that you could help many of them through situations and maintain an outlet for yourself.

Instead we have a generation of Black girls lost listening to a female M.C. that wants to put something on my sideburns (listen to Bedrock) and feeding a sex kitten image to a throng of sex-starved people the exceeds the magical Summer of Love. This is not a Nicki Minaj dis blog; this is reality rap about the lack of diversity rocking the MIC for the ladies......

Nikki Minaj....well....what can I say. In theory, if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody then you shouldn't say anything at all. However, I have bad manners so I'll speak on this one. I don't hate Nikki Minaj: I hate what she represents. For years women have been depicted in rap lyrics as nothing more than objects of a male's affection or disdain. We were bitches and hoes. Gold diggers and chickenheads. Money hungry heffas and ratchet baby mamas. But the original female emcee showed that we were more than that. And like Flava Flav, Nicki Minaj is working so hard to destroy what we have put together as a people. True, entertainers are not supposed to be role models. They are strictly supposed to entertain. It's all supposed to start in the home. But what happens when your mother is a "Harajuko Barbie," too? Now what? Young girls listen to these rap lyrics about women using men to get what they want. About how your self worth means nothing unless you shop at Neiman Marcus. And rather than turning on the TV and seeing a woman that disproves those statements, they see a grown woman prancing around feeding into the stereotype. It didn't all start with Nicki and I can't put this all on her shoulders. But she is a part of the problem. Some say that it's just a gimmick. They say that she is forced to portray this character because of the record companies. I guess my question is then, how much is the price of your soul? Because you can't buy mine for a record contract. Maybe she really is a gifted MC. i'll never know because once I hear her voice i want to shoot myself. but i have read some of her lyrics and i see the potential. i see the potential to do so much more. We have gotten to a point where skills don't sell anymore; gimmicks do.There were MC's that tried to reign supreme in this male driven world and were pushed to the side. Rah Digga was nice on the mic and Remy Ma could battle rap with the best of them. But where are they now? Well, Remy Ma is in jail but you get the point.

I just think that we can do better. We have to. There is a generation of young girls that want to be Barbie dolls. But hey, even Barbie had a job. They think there self worth is determined by the size of their Prada bag, not the size of their personality. The men love Nicki so the women follow suit and want to be like her. Me? I still want to be like Queen Latifah. I want to be like MC Lyte. I want to be like Lauryn Hill. So Lauryn, if you are out there, please hear my plea:

We need you. The game needs you. I need you. My 13 year old niece needs you. Come back. We need a revolution.