

GEN 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. GEN 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, GEN 1:16 And God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. GEN 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. GEN 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: GEN 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

GEN 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. GEN 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. GEN 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. GEN 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And the evening and the morning were the second day. GEN 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. GEN 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. GEN 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And the evening and the morning were the first day. GEN 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. GEN 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. GEN 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

GEN 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. We also had to give props to those who dropped standout singles, leaving us wanting more.GEN 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. VIBE decided to switch things up but also highlighting rap albums by womxn who came strong in their respectively debut albums, mixtapes, EPs. Blame laziness or the heavy onslaught of music hitting streaming sites this year, but many of the artists on this list have hibernated under the radar for far too long. Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy and Nicki Minaj’s Queen might’ve been the most mainstream albums by womxn in rap this year, but there was a long list of creatives who brought the noise like Rico Nasty, Tierra Whack, Noname, and Bbymutha.

These pillars and many more have allowed the next generation of emcees to be unapologetically brash, truthful and confident in their music. The late Sylvia Robinson birthed the hip-hop music industry with the formation of Sugar Hill Records (and fostering “Rapper’s Delight”), Roxanne Shante’s 55 lyrical responses to fellow rappers were the first diss tracks and Missy Elliott’s bold and striking music and visuals inspired men and women in the game to step outside of their comfort zones. The female voice in hip-hop has always been present whether we’ve noticed it or not.
