Where Are They Now? 9 Of Our Favorite Female Rappers From Back In the Day

Monie Love

Monie’s no longer in the middle of the rap game as she was in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but dang, do we miss those days! Love debuted as part of the Jus Bad Crew before blowing up after making an appearance on the iconic “Ladies First” with Queen Latifah, and doing her thing on De La Soul’s “Buddy.” Love would go on to become a prominent member of Native Tongues, the intellectual collective of rhymers that included folks like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and more. Her debut album (Down to Earth) gave us the classic “Monie in the Middle,” and “It’s a Shame,” and after that, she blew up big time, doing songs with Whitney Houston (the remix to “My Name is Not Susan”) and penned some lyrics for a few tracks with Prince of all people. After that, she took a break and returned in 2000 to drop the EP Slice of Da Pie. For all those in Philly, I’m sure you know Love was the morning drive host on WPHI-FM from 2004-2006 (where she and Young Jeezy went back and forth about why hip-hop is and isn’t dead). The last time we checked, the single mother was hosting a radio show called “Ladies First Radio” on XM Satellite Radio. And we’ve also seen her hopping on stage with Q-Tip (We were bugging out in the crowd at last year’s Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival).