Female Rappers From The South Dominated In 2024

Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla, Latto and so many others reminded everyone that "the South has something to say."

We have been in a female rap renaissance for at least the last decade, but this year has been particularly kind to Southern women in rap and their supporters.

In June, I was standing in a sold-out arena full of women, gays and theys throwing ass to a rapper from Houston. I wish I had asked my friend to snap a picture of the huge smile on my face.

Female rappers from the South (or any region, for that matter) haven’t had sold-out shows of this scale in years. This moment in rap represents a much-needed reset. For all the heckling about Megan Thee Stallion’s arena tour, led by the likes of “The Breakfast Club” — host Charlamagne Tha God ultimately walked back his comment that Megan isn’t an “arena artist” — the Houston rapper largely sold out the dates for her Hot Girl Summer Tour. And from the looks of it online, Latto’s Sugar Honey Iced Tea Tour has been selling well.

Oh, how I have waited for the day that female rappers get their due.

One of my first pieces as a working writer was “Rap’s Rapidly Vanishing Female MC,” a 2008 essay lamenting a noticeable lack of women rappers in the genre. I cringe quite a bit at what I wrote back then. But at its crux, the piece is still an earnest appreciation for women in hip-hop and a genuine plea for labels to sign more of them.