Solachi Voz

I am sorry.

I am sorry for not expanding on a previous post that I made about female emcees.

I went back and read comments from the post and noticed something.

I forgot to include a lot of uber talented female emcees.

Rap is a male dominated music genre. Females are misrepresented because of poor branding.

Sex appeal seems to be more important than rhyming skill.

Why I Created This List?

A blog post from The Smithsonian Magazine really caught my attention. The blog post stated that the number of female rappers signed to major labels dropped from 40 to 3.

Yes 3! 3 female rappers! It makes you wonder where did all the female rappers go.

Another blog post that I read talked about how female hip-hop committed suicide.

Check out this interesting viewpoint from Chakara:

Female hip hop committed suicide because labels agreed to unleash females with one common thing on their mind; selling sex. We sold out. We as a female race in hip hop sold out, at something that to do nothing but produce sexual desire for the male fanbase of hip hop. Why put all this time in effort into my actual lyrics when I can get a record deal from having a fat ass, freaky lyrics, and a pretty face? This became the common thought across the board in upcoming female artists.

Do you agree with this?

I know I do. The aforementioned blog posts provided me with the ammunition to compile a female emcee list.

I wanted to prove that female emcees are alive and kicking.

I wanted to prove that female emcees can hold their own with their male counterparts.

I grew up listening to Eve, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Amil, Missy Elliot, Charli Baltimore and other emcees that happened to be female.

I took the time to study the pioneers of hip-hop. To my surprise I was exposed to the talents of MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shante, Heather B, Monie Love and countless others.

I fell in love with Lauryn Hill. Her performance on The Score sold me. I fell in love with Bahamadia. I fell in love with Apani B Fly. I fell in love with Elsie from New Breed.

I fell in love with Lady of Rage and her gangster steez. I fell in love with Mia X during my No Limit phase haha.

I fell in love with Left Eye (Rest in Peace Queen). I fell in love with Missy Elliot.

Female emcees rock! (Tweet This)

The list goes on and on. I fell in love with their skill not their sexuality! I fell in love with their personality as well.

Hip-Hop is Hip-Hop at the end of the day.

The Resources I Used for This List

I used multiple resources to compile this list.

The Illest Female Rappers Blogspot
(90% of the List comes from this excellent blog)
15 Female Emcees That Will Outshine You On Your Own Track
Female Rappers Tumblr
Female Emcees Twitter List
@FemaleEmcees Twitter Profile
Esoteric Elegance
Missy B on Twitter
Mr. Davey D's 500 Female Emcees
The resources cut down my research time immensely.

I went through all the links that the were provided and updated them with current links (if I could find them).

I also reached out to my I Live Hip Hop Facebook fam and they provided a lot of names as well.Shout out to The Fembassy and Hip Hop Sisters for what you do.

Below you will find an alphabetized directory (or list) of female emcees. This list contains artists that you may know and some that you do not know. This list consists of international and domestic emcees. This list consists of veteran and new emcees.

Please share this post. Share it with the artists on this list. Share it with artists that should be on this list. The goal is to keep adding to this list. This list proves that Females can spit and deserve more attention. - Praverb.net

ONE HEART, MANY LOVE; TIME WAITS



There is a generation surfacing that is relentlessly loving Jesus while expressing it all through spoken word poetry and song. We were fortunate to interact with this pioneering vessel of God. The one of one emcee Solachi Voz, to put it simply, is bringing hip hop back to the basics. Her flow is on beat. Her mind is on point, and more than anything else she's wrapped in the Arms of Jesus. Check it out!



THE INTERVIEW



Where are you from?

Right now, I’m in Indiana, but I’ve spent a lot of time in Columbus, OH. So, I kind of claim both of those cities as mine.



Tell me about your name. Is there any special meaning?

Yeah, the name Solachi is kinda one of those names where I was searching for what God wanted me to do with my craft. And the name Solachi means “blessed voice of the sun.”



How’d you find such a unique name?

Well, I’m kinda weird, and I spend a lot of time on Google. So, it was around the time when they introduced the ability to translate, and I was just putting random words in and I was searching through because I was like, I wonder what sounds cool in all these languages. So, I went through and happened upon the Galician language; I was trying to find something that had to do with the glory of God. At the time, I was really interested in the planets and the solar system, and I was like, man, we really do revolve around the sun and I started to wonder if there were any phrases in there that had to do with that. So, I happened upon the prefix Sol for sun, and the ending part, the Chi, in Chinese culture that has to do with energy. So, I was praying about it, and God just told be to put those two together, Solachi, you know, because I put all my energy toward everything for Him. And then, La is just another way of saying voice in Latin American languages. So, my interest in linguistics, I guess, and languages of the world put together my name for me.



How did you come to know Jesus?

As with most people, it’s been a journey. I was actually introduced to Him at a very, very early age. I can’t remember a time that I haven’t known of Him at least, but knowing Him is definitely a process that I’m happening upon at this stage of my life. Early on, we were always at church. My parents, they immigrated from Nigeria and they have always had a strong faith in God. So I was taught, even as a toddler, how to pray and how to seek God first in everything that I do. I formerly accepted Christ in my heart when I was six years old. And growing up, as a family unit, there are only four people in my immediate family, and that’s the only family that I have in America, so when I was little, my parents asked another couple at our church if they would want to be our godparents, and when I was six, leading up to seven, my dad got really sick and he almost passed away. During that time, my godparents really took care of me. They taught me how to pray and they really stuck with me.

I’m grateful my dad is still alive today, but unfortunately, my godfather passed away this July. Having them be part of my faith walk from a young age all the way up to now, that was a process. And even now, I’m looking to find Jesus myself. I was one of those kids that would think that God had grandchildren and that faith was hereditary. So, I didn’t bother to find Him for myself until I left to go to college. And then, just being in a different state where I knew nobody, I had to kind of start over, getting to learn who God is and spending time with Him on my own. So, it’s kinda like I have two beginnings: knowing who He was and then knowing Him for myself.



Where do find yourself most drawn to in the Bible--especially now as you’re seeking Him for yourself?

I would say Hebrews because it talks about how to please God and about how faith operates. Also, it tells you, especially Ch 11, it tells you what faith is. It doesn’t really tell you what it’s not. But in a list of all these people who have faith, it teaches you how to have it and how to walk in it and how that really pleases God and how your motives should be to follow Him no matter what you do and He will bless that because He knows you’re doing it for him.

And also, I would say Esther, umm… because of the way she was humbled but still obedient. Even though she was elevated (and that’s not what I’m after), God was using her to save her people, and that’s what I want to do through my music, and also through my clothing line.

So I’d say, those two books are really where it’s at for me right now.



How long have you been rapping?

It’s weird because I never really got into hip hop until like high school age, as far as the genre itself. I started writing music but I didn’t know it was rap. I was really into the contemporary Christian music first. So, then I was writing these verses but I didn’t really know what they were. When I was introduced to hip hop culture as a whole, I was approached with an opportunity to get behind a mic. So I just went with it. And it took me like nine hours to record my first song because I was so awkward with it, but it was cool, and umm… I just, I just fell in love with it. I started studying it.

The first thing I wanted to make sure was that I could hold a conversation, and not be ignorant, before I started creating the music. So even at that age, that was my focus. I wanted to be sure my love for the genre was real before I started trying to claim it. You know, I think, just the five pillars of hip hop, those and the Golden Era, and the pioneers who went before us… I’ve never really been satisfied with what hip hop is becoming, but I was drawn to it because of the influence behind it, and how it’s gripped not only American culture but global society. It’s the most listened-to genre that exists right now, and if that’s true, then my dream is to see it be used positively and for what is holy. - BLK RC MAGAZINE

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, CHH has the dopest female MC’s ever, and Solachi Voz is right up there with the best of them. - CHHToday

In this episode JB talks with female rapper Solachi Voz. After discovering her unique gift of writing Solachi Voz stepped into rapping. Solachi gives some essential wisdom she learned from the legendary rapper Kurtis Blow, insight on being a trendsetter, and what’s next for her fan base. - TCR Magazine