The latest in the trend of non-black, hardcore, N-bomb-dropping female rappers is Honey Cocaine, the Asian protégé of the 22-year-old Compton rapper Tyga, who is of Vietnamese and Jamaican descent himself.

In a new video for her track, Feel S***, the 19-year-old Canadian MC doesn’t miss a beat dropping the N-word with the line, “soft b****es get hurt, soft n****s get it worse.” She’s also quite comfortable throwing the offensive term around on her twitter account, @HoneyLKCocaine.

Some are expecting the new artist to compete with Nicki Minaj, which seems a bit ambitious—plus people may not be so quick to get over her little linguistic snafus.

Check out the video below and tell us what you think about Honey Cocaine throwing out the N-word around the 2:00 mark. Should she drop the word from her lyrics or do you feel like Trina when it comes to non-black rappers using the N-word, who cares?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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The wretched N-word. Still used by any and everybody when it shouldn’t be, still holds a painful and offensive meaning. But if you ask rapper Trina, aka “The Baddest B****,” it’s not something people should be getting worked up about anymore. We’ve got bigger fish to fry.

In an interview on 106 & Park recently to promote her new video, “Red Bottoms,” when asked what she thought about Bay-area white female rappers Kreayshawn and V-Nasty using the word (which has been a heated discussion since Kreayshawn jumped into the spotlight earlier in the year), she didn’t see the need to get heated over something she sees as being…small.

“I don’t see what the big deal about it is. It’s a matter of respect, if you’re not being disrespectful, if you’re not doing it in a racist way…I’m not really the person that care’s too much about all that.”

She goes on to say:

“It’s so much more serious stuff going on in life. Let’s worry about voting for Barack Obama for president again. I don’t think the N-word is such a big deal, we’ve been saying it for years, decades, white, blacks, Hispanic, Jamaican, Haitian, Chinese whatever. It is what it is, we didn’t create it, we didn’t start it and we’re not going to be the last to say it. It’s going to continue on and on and on so we just need to focus on what’s important.”

I’m not a fan musically of any of the women mentioned in this here post, but in a weird way, I can somewhat feel what Trina is trying to say. We do have bigger and better things to worry about than what a barely-out-of-adolescence white female rapper lets come out of her mouth. However, I don’t see how it hurts to stand up and say that it’s best if Miss Krey-Krey and her V-whatever friend don’t use the word. I think the less we care and the less we speak out about it when we can, and in Trina’s case, when we have a platform to do so, we wind up pretty much saying it’s absolutely, positively okay. I don’t care who says it, if I hear it, even in a “non-racist way,” it makes me cringe. I have no control over what words people use in the comfort of their own home, but hell, I would definitely prefer if people weren’t so accepting of the word that they’re saying it and screaming it to one another out in the streets. It’s soooo embarrassing and disrespectful that it’s not even funny, and if you ask me (though you didn’t), not only do these women mentioned need to stop, but these rappers out here in general need to start cutting it out with the N-word. So sorry Trina, but I still think it’s a big deal. But then again, I wouldn’t expect someone who holds pride in calling themselves a “Bi***” to feel me on that…

Kreayshawn

V-Nasty looking crazy.

What do you think?

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Bahamadia is arguably the most underrated female hip-hop artist of all time. I’m not just saying this because she happens to be from my neck of the woods, but because she is truly a gifted and authentic lyricist who could drop a solid 16 bars without trading on narrowly defined definitions of what femininity is suppose to be. But no song captures the spirit of Bahamadia more than “Commonwealth (aka Cheap Chicks),” which pays homage to “ordinary females around the way, so-called cornballs, commonwealth broads, broke broads who still want to get their little shine on with short dockets who ain’t frontin’…” In that grossly underrated song, Bahamadia manages to flip the script and remind us that style isn’t just for those who can afford it, but rather those who have the attitude and are creative enough to make something work out of nothing.

Yet in the blogosphere, there are sites that, instead of marveling at the creativity of these commonwealth chicks, often slap them with labels of being ghetto or acting raunchy. It seems to be acceptable to make fun of black girls and women with the skittles “taste the rainbow” weaves and the homemade designer label, knock-off prom dresses. Through our constant ridicule and condemnation of these “stricken by poverty chicks,” we send the message that their creations and creative contributions have no value – other than to shame the black race – and should be shunned from the larger black community.

That is, until a white girl does it. Then it becomes cute and hip. Case in point: Kreayshawn (pronounced Cri-shon), an overhyped white female rapper, who has become a viral sensation. She appears to represent a new wave of hipsterism, which has been infiltrating the hip-hop scene as of late. In her latest video, “Gucci, Gucci,” she, along with her White Girl Mob, swaggers through Cali streets with an asymmetrical haircut, big door knockers and a troupe of young black men bouncing around in the background  – for color of course. There is plenty of talk about stealing basic bitches, smoking blunts, and keeping her hand on the pump.

However, what are notably absent from her video are black girls. It’s as if they don’t exist in this swag-out world. Writer Moya Bailey points out on the blog, “The Crunk Feminist Collective,” that “The objectification of black women as a lyrical trope is what makes Kreayshawn interesting. Look at this white girl who talks like a black man! Isn’t she awesome?” Taking Bailey’s point further, what Kreayshawn is doing is taking what is probably the most debatable image of the black woman – one that we have yet to fully accept – and co-opting it for what she calls  “white girl swag.” By any standards, this called is cultural appropriation, the act of adopting some specific element of another culture, including religious, language, and forms of dress and social behavior.

In many instances of cultural appropriation, these acts of co-option adopt the colorblind ideology, which not only justifies the presence of the non-member of the culture, but it also aids them in removing whatever racial, social and culturally-coded meaning that happen to be embedded in that cultural element they are using. In other words, it’s all fun without the social commentary or context. We’ve seen it with Bo Derek and her golden blonde cornrows, Gewn Stefani and her Harajuku girls and Madonna with just about everything she does. Now, we may just be witnessing it again with Kreayshawn.

According to her bio, Kreayshawn, born Natassia Zolot, is a native of East Oakland and was raised by her single mother, a former member of a Garage punk rock band, The Trashwoman. Though she paints this hard knock story of being one of the few white girls in an urban environment, she delivers nothing on wax that actually challenges the perception of being white in such an environment, nor does she bring anything new to the table. In fact, she regurgitates the same tired images that we’ve seen millions of times on television. Usually, one might be grateful that a pop artist seeks inspiration from elements that are usually associated with the African American community. I may have felt that way about Kreayshawn had it not been for the inauthenticity of her image, and if her performance didn’t reek of a modern day minstrel show.

Charing Ball is the author of the blog People, Places & Things.

By Charing Ball

Last August, I had the pleasure to see Lauryn Hill perform live at Rock the Bells, a hip hop festival held in select cities across the country. I have been a lifelong fan of Ms. Hill since the days of Nappy Heads when she was part of the Tranzlator crew (also known as the Fugees). So naturally, I couldn’t wait to see her ‘rock the mic’ once again in what was supposed to be her comeback performance. I, along with a few thousand other concertgoers, stood out in the hazy August heat waiting patiently for her to take the stage.

Hill finally appeared a half-an-hour later after she was scheduled to perform, and the crowd, who by then was delirious from the heat, went wild. After a welcome back/thanks to the fans speech, the music kicked in and she began to sing. All I can say is that it was different, as in her overall vibe was unfamiliar. Gone were the days of the brown-skinned, bright-face, dreadlocked-wearing Ms. Hill we all knew and loved from the days of Lost Ones. Instead, in comes a much older, slightly tempered and strikingly eclectic Ms. Hill, which would take some time getting use to.

Ten years ago, Hill was set to rule the musical world. After a successful run with the Fugees, which produced hits such as “Fu-ge-laa,” “Ready or Not” and “Vocab,” along with some very publicized bad blood between group members, Ms. Hill would branch out on her own with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.  That album went on to win five Grammys and sell more than 18 million copies in a decade, solidifying her as one of the greatest female emcees in hip-hop history. But since then, she has been relatively missing in action from the music scene – with the exception of 2001’s MTV Unplugged, which had many of Hill’s most devoted fans bemused with her erratic behavior between songs.  After that, the general consensus was that Hill had enough of the music industry and she proceeded to take refuge in the anonymity of suburban life in South Orange, New Jersey with her mother and five children.

But 13 years after the promise of a second solo album begun to fade, Hill reemerged. Despite her return to sold out concerts, some fans are still wondering: what the hell happened to Lauryn Hill? It’s not so much her absence, which had folks wagging their tongues, but rather her reputation of diva-like behavior, including her chronic lateness to performances and insistence on performing unfamiliar remixes of her songs. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention her apparent disheveled appearances, which has included awkward makeup and mix-and-match ensembles.  Also, there is much discussion around her long-term ‘spiritual union’ with an allegedly married Rohan Marley, son of the legendary Bob Marley.

By Brittany Hutson

These days, one name that’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue in the world of hip-hop is Nicki Minaj. Whether you hate her or you love her, the Harajuku Barbie has taken the music industry by storm and there’s no inclination that she plans to let up anytime soon.

On Monday, she hopes to pull a ‘massive attack’ on the Billboard charts when her debut album, Pink Friday, drops. She will have some heavy competition since Kanye West is releasing his fifth and highly anticipated “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” on the same day, as well as Jay-Z’s Hits Collection Vol. 1. Being that Minaj has made her mark this year doing collaborations with just about every prime player in the industry, will she fall short when she has to take the lead on her debut?

“Between her strong guest appearances and ability to make pop crossover records, anticipation is high,” said Jermaine Hall, Editor-in-Chief of Vibe Magazine. “She was able to claim the best verse on a song (Monster)  featuring Jay-Z and Kanye West. That’s no small feat for any rapper—male or female.”

Her featured songs have certainly been racking up big numbers on Billboard’s digital songs chart—For “Bottoms Up” with Trey Songz, 1.2 million units have sold; 1.3 million units have sold with Ludacris on “My Chick Bad.” But some critics believe we’ve already seen the best of Minaj.

Minaj is hit-or-miss, according to The Village Voice writer Zach Baron. He writes that she is a “master at stealing the show” as she did on “Monster,” but when it comes to her own songs, such as “Check It Out” with Will.I.Am, the record “seems to have already vanished without a trace.” When her hit single “Your Love” appeared on the charts, it only did 27,000 in the first week. However, in week two, sales were at 55,000, an increase of 102%.

The last time a female rapper’s album made an appearance on the charts was in May when Trina released “Amazing.” It landed at number 13, though it only sold 32,000 copies in its first week. While first week sales aren’t what they used to be, according to Keith Caulfield of Billboard, industry sources are projecting that Pink Friday could sell 200,000-300,000 copies in its first week. But Caulfield adds that it is hard to predict how a female rapper will sell since none are selling anymore.

Minaj is fully aware of the impact that her debut could have on the female rap game. She’s acknowledged that if her project does not do well that her label will not look to signing other female rappers. Over the years, people have discussed the disappearing act of female MCs, concluding that it would take someone of a new breed to turn the plight of the female rapper around. For now, it seems that Minaj is that new breed. Not only has she placed seven songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 within a year (four of which were on the charts all within the same week, according to Billboard, making her the first female rapper to accomplish such a feat), but her work ethic, charisma and quirkiness has garnered much attention.

“She is holding the torch at the moment and she’s re-ignited the female MC conversation,” said Hall. “Her sales performance will show labels that they should be in the business of female MCs.”

First Week Debut Album Numbers from Female Rappers:

Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill sold 422,000

Missy Elliott’s Supa Dupa Fly sold 129,000

Foxy Brown’s Ill Na Na sold 109,000

Eve’s Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady sold 213,000

Lil Kim’s Hard Core sold 78,000

Trina’s Da Baddest B**** sold 30,000