Maddie Redmond ’25 shared insights into Black Women in the Rap industry.
Maddie Redmond ’25 started her Brace Fellow Presentation on February 17, entitled “From Roxanne to Nicki: Uncovering Feminism, Empowerment, and Identity in Female Rap Music,” with a rap of her own; the opening line was “My name is MBreezy and I’m on the beat.” She then traced the genre’s evolution and analyzed its role in shaping feminist discourse.
A central theme in Redmond’s presentation was the sexual identity and liberation of Black women. She explored the long-standing presence of sexual themes in rap music, emphasizing that female rappers have incorporated explicit lyrics ever since the genre’s beginning, using their music as a form of empowerment rather than provocation.
“One of the most interesting things I found was how sexually explicit some female rap songs are. I found that female rap, and rap as a whole, has been sexually explicit since the introduction of the genre in the music industry. A lot of female rappers get a lot of hate for how vulgar the lyrics can be, which is something that female rappers have been doing since they first got in the game,” said Redmond.
Redmond continued, “Rapping about sex and sexuality also negates negative stereotypes that Black women have been faced with because of slavery. The sexual identity of Black women has long been misconstrued just to appease white men’s abuse and exploitation during slavery and their stereotypes that have lasted till today. By rapping about sex and their sexuality, rappers like Sexyy Red and Megan Thee Stallion and even older rappers like Salt-N-Pepa have all worked towards negating these negative stereotypes.”
Redmond’s presentation particularly resonated with the audience, who enjoyed that the presentation shed further light on African-American women’s independent style in the rapping industry. Jaylen Daley ’25 recounted that the presentation even pushed some people to tears.
“It wasn’t just interesting to listen to the history but also because she played the songs. The vibe of the whole room really resonated and connected with the songs, we were singing them ourselves, it really contributed to the common solidarity. You had people who you never saw crying, crying. It really added to the factor that we’re all here for each other and it really added to that through the rawness and truths she was exposing in her presentation,” said Daley.
Casey Smith, Instructor in Art and Redmond’s faculty advisor for the presentation, noted the importance of Redmond’s topics, claiming that by addressing these themes openly, Redmond proposed the celebration of culture, sexuality, and identity within the genre. Smith reflected on how the presentation expanded his own understanding of rap music, introducing him to artists and songs from his own life that he had previously overlooked.
“She shared a lot of things that I think would stand out, [and] challenging the vulgarity of certain lyrics is something that some people think should be censored and kept private. [Through] talking about it, she celebrates a certain lifestyle, a certain culture, a certain sexuality, [and] a certain identity… I was not familiar with all of the rap songs that Maddie went through and the entire scope of the genre, so she has shared a lot of information about music that was in my own lifetime, growing up, that I was just not aware of,” said Smith.
Overall, the presentation was seen as relevant due to recent events in the musical industry. Blake Herndon ’25 felt that Redmond ended the presentation in a memorable way, playing a recent clip of Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon (Doechii) winning a Grammy for best rap album on February 2.
“The moment where she played Doechii winning a Grammy was absolutely memorable, it was a good way of ending the presentation, it was really good. I didn’t realize how much social justice was embedded into female rap. I learned so much. It makes me want to explore more and add more female rap to my playlists.” said Herndon.
