Examining Female Hip Hop Fans: Are They Real Fans or Just Persona Followers?

On the Apple Music Hip Hop podcast, Ebro Darden spoke about an interaction he had with a female rap artist who made a very aware statement about female rap fans. The artist told him that she believes, "Most fans of women rapping are not really hip hop fans. They are just fans of the persona of the woman rapping. They are fans of that individual, but they are not really hip hop fans, they are just fans of a particular artist."

I feel like that is an incredible level of awareness. Because, as a fan of hip hop, the music always comes before what the artist is wearing, what their voice sounds like, or what the beat sounds like. All of these things are thought about subconsciously for me when my brain goes, "I like this song." I believe what the artist is saying, and I appreciate the way they are able to relay that message in their own unique form of art.

So when Ebro said that, something clicked in my brain and gave me a clearer perspective—not just about female rap music, but about the men too. You see all this stuff about, "You gotta do something different, you gotta stand out," and it’s like, no, you don’t. Lol. To hip hop fans, I feel like we just expect the artist to be the best version of themselves and stay true to the art because you can hear it through the speakers. And that feeling you get when you hear a song—no matter what it's about—and you say to yourself, "There's just something different about this one," that's the intention in the record you're feeling.

From the outside looking in, it’s like the otherworldly talented female rappers still hold some mainstream slots, but don’t get the same acclaim as how, as men, we view the mainstream male artists on a more even playing field with the club-heavy rap artists. We can make this simple comparison just by looking at J. Cole and Kendrick for example. Both are conscious, high in lyricism, and minimal with the jewelry—just two regular-looking guys for the most part—but we don’t view them any less than the club-heavy rap artists. In fact, it seems like we actually hold the more intentional artists in higher regard than the club-heavy record artists like Moneybagg Yo or Future—who essentially created a sound, remained consistent, and showed longevity.

Even though the intentional artists aren’t the majority, artists like Cole, Kendrick, Jay-Z, and Kanye still hold most of the top spots for fans. Meanwhile, club-heavy rap artists—who created their own lane—are respected equally. So after thinking about what Ebro’s rapper homegirl said, I agree wholeheartedly, and I’ll take it a step further by asking: Why don’t women fans hold their most intentional artists in a similar regard to how the men do?

Because there’s no reason why Rapsody shouldn’t be on every female rapper's dream feature list right now. First of all, the only ones that even have a chance of hanging with her lyrically, bar for bar, would be the women I’ve listed above. So why isn’t Rapsody on a Cole-like or Drake-like feature run? Like we gotta keep it real with ourselves. Doechii, Rapsody, and Kodie Shane—doing that alternative thing she does better than anybody else—they had the three best female rap projects of 2024. And Doechii’s project is slated as a mixtape with zero features and Kodie’s was an EP.

I feel like, as a real hip hop fan, you can hear the intention in the record, you can hear the effort and the artistry and authenticity through the speakers if the music is really that. And not to say that the women who have led the South and East Coast "bad bitch" era aren’t telling the truth or making good music. But if we look at the intention and texture put into the records, that could be what separates artists like Rapsody, Nicki, Doechii, and even Kodie Shane in that alternative space from the rest of the pack sonically, who have made it that far and have a global presence. Their artistry and authenticity seep out through the speakers and feel like an elegant shroom high whenever you hear it, even years later. These women put an un-teachable level of intention and effort into every record they drop.

Ebro didn’t express the thoughtful and insightful remark as negative necessarily, but what it did do was at least raise awareness. It made me take another look at the female rap scene and make sure that I wasn’t just tripping. But just to be clear, there is a difference between the hottest rapper and the best rapper.

You see, the hottest rapper might be the one trending on social media, getting all the attention and headlines. But the best rapper? That's someone whose music carries more depth and artistry. It’s the ones who put the craft first, who create music that stands the test of time. Artists like Rapsody and Nicki Minaj don’t just shine because of their image or persona—they stand out because they put an un-teachable level of intention and effort into every record they drop.

Ebro also said something that hit home for me—this time, speaking from his own perspective. He shared his personal thoughts, saying, "Sometimes we are allowing people who are not hip hop fans to dictate the hip hop conversation because hip hop is pop sometimes." This really made me think. There are people who are just fans of what’s popular—they might like someone who happens to rap—but that doesn’t necessarily make it a hip hop conversation. It’s more of a pop conversation when the focus is on what’s trendy rather than what’s at the core of the culture.

Those of us who really love and understand hip hop have to distill that down a bit, like Ebro said. We have to make sure that, as the genre grows and merges with pop, the music—the art itself—doesn't get lost in the noise of celebrity and personality.

There’s nothing wrong with being a fan of someone’s persona, but at the end of the day, hip hop is about authenticity. You can hear it in the music. And as fans, we need to pay attention to that distinction. Are we fans of the music or just the person who’s popular right now?