Having managed to build a career on her own, Rapsody has quickly become one of the most exciting and revered names in young rappers, especially in regards to females. Her quick flow and steady, consistent output of quality tracks has seen her shoot to success and she really is only getting started.
Probably my favourite thing about Rapsody is her refusal to let issues that she’s passionate about slide, as many artists do when they get a bit of traction. Admittedly, it can be hard to champion issues, and continue to do so, but she does, and she does it well. Take her recent film clip for her track The Man. The clip gives heart wrenching insight to the cycle that is young boys growing up without fathers, and consequently doing the same later on in life. Obviously a widespread issue that is rarely touched on, especially by females, she used her voice and her platform to speak out.
Now, she’s spoken out again. Having landed a feature spot on the track Complexion (A Zulu Love) of Kendrick Lamar‘s To Pimp A Butterfly, Rapsody delivers a verse to end all verses, completely shutting the album down and putting everything into a new light. She sums up the entire album concept into one verse, delivering it with her effortless style and calming nature. In a recent interview, she said of the collaboration, “He said,’Everybody’s beautiful – black or white. But I really want to do something for us, for our folks.’ He didn’t have to explain it. I got it off the back.”
But the insights didn’t stop there, as she also jumped on issues like Gender Politics, and shared personal experiences she had encountered. Discussing issues like the need to be “sexy”, what that looks like for a female and what it’s like to not fit in that box, as well as the need for balance of female emcees in the media, touching on the days when Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill and many others each had individual style but were totally sexy and beautiful in their own ways. “If I could change anything, it’d just be more balance like it used to be,” she says.
As an outspoken feminist myself, I found this interview not only brilliant and insightful, but also appreciated the necessity of what she was saying, and the importance of having people like Rapsody speaking out for others. The nearly 6 minute interview is incredibly worthy of your time, you can see it below and check out more of Rapsody here.