First you have traditional female rappers in the vein of Missy Elliott, Eve, MC Lyte, Rah Digga, Lauryn Hill, Foxy Brown, Yoshamine, Lil' Kim, Shawnna, Trina, and Lady Sovereign. They are exactly what the label implies: females who have the technical ability to rap at varying degrees. Nicki Minaj is also fall under this broad interpretation of a traditional female rapper, although some would argue that she extends it a bit with her theatrical delivery (although I would counter that a difference in delivery doesn't really necessitate an entirely separate category of rap in this case).
Then there is another camp of female rappers that can be more aptly described as talk-rap, or sing-song rap. Probably the earliest (and most prevalent) example of this style would be Gwen Stefani, who more or less helped the style gain traction in the mainstream. Other pop artists quickly followed suit, including Fergie, Nelly Furtado, Uffie, Isis Salam (of the electronic duo Thunderheist) Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Dev (of "Like a G6" fame).
The thing most people will note about the talk-rap camp is that most of them are white (or at least not black). Fergie could be argued to have at least some degree of technical skill (she was able to match Nelly pound for pound with her triple-time follow-up bars on "Where the Party People At?"), and even Nigerian-born Isis Salam makes a convincing hip-hop presence on her debut album, so where does that leave these other girls?
There is one thing about this latter style that desperately needs to be acknowledged: accusing a vapid artist such as Kesha as neither being a legitimate rapper or nor hip-hop in any sense of the word is no longer a valid claim. Kesha, of course, is the furthest thing away from my personal concept of what a good female emcee ought to be; but her very existence and ability to move singles and records by commodifying a two-dimensional take on rapping challenges not only the traditional notions of what a rapper is, but also what can be considered hip-hop.
This doesn't even take into consideration the fact that she either matches or exceeds Nicki Minaj in both popularity or commercial success, someone most people would consider to be more thoughtful, technically talented, and avant-garde than Kesha. Conversely, Kesha's lyrical content and presence share a common strain with blunt frat humor; and punch-lines are generally shallow and are usually the product of obvious rhyme structure. But it's obvious that technical ability doesn't always dictate the ability to sell or outsell another, and the unfortunate broadening of Kesha's own skills with each song she puts out makes it more difficult to marginalize her as completely talentless.
So at what point does it become impossible to eschew these white sing-song rappers of any consideration of what it means to be either a rapper or hip-hop? All it has taken for a number of high-profile R&B and pop artists to garner more hip-hop credibility was for them to get guys like Timbaland or The Neptunes in the studio with them, and for the artist in question to adjust their flow and delivery a bit and boom! - we're suddenly saddled with previously innocuous stars like Nelly Furtado knocking out chart-topping club jams. Kesha recently got producer Bangladesh (best known as a Lil' Wayne collaborator with "A Milli" and, more recently, "Six Foot Seven Foot") to produce a track or two on her new EP, Cannibal, and her mic presence sounds admittedly fuller and slightly more agile. Is this enough to make someone like her hip-hop, or does the fact that her personal lifestyle is not a representation of the traditional "struggle" or "plight" of the black man make her somehow inauthentic?
Also, why hasn't West Coast talk-rapper Dev (best known for her hook duties on "Like a G6") been levied with the same attention or criticisms regarding her authenticity? I have to admit that there is a breezier and more effortless cool associated with Dev's performance, making her presence more appealing; but is that enough to give her a free pass? There just seems to be a lot of double standards and confusion regarding the topic, even if we correctly assume that not all talk-rap is created equal.
In the very least, it's worth sidestepping traditional assumptions that talk-rappers like Kesha are artistically worthless in order to evaluate what kind of impact their popularity or influence will have on hip-hop and the marketplace. I don't see how, in 2011, it is at all possible to divorce hip-hop from commerce, and commerce has definitely become a driving force behind reshaping what hip-hop has become and what it will look like down the road.
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