The Celebreality Interview - egotrip
Foxy Brown’s in jail, Remy Ma’s headed there and Lil’ Kim recently got out. Lauryn’s crazy, Eve’s in limbo and Missy can only cross her fingers and hope that her upcoming album hits as big as her music once did. The state of female rap is in such shambles that in ‘07, Salt-N-Pepa were the most visible female rappers without having released an album in a decade. They turned to reality TV, and now, so are others — egotrip, the guys behind The White Rapper Show, now bring you the search for the next great female rapper, egotrip’s Miss Rap Supreme (which debuts tonight at 10/9c).
Below, two of egotrip’s founding members, the veritable doctors of street science Sascha Jenkins and Jefferson “Chairman” Mao, talk about the show and the decrepit state of female rap. What this show represents to its budding femcees is hope, and that makes it vital to an industry that’s almost entirely lacking in opportunity. This is not a game, ma.
I get the sense from Serch that Miss Rap Supreme is something the industry needs.
Sascha Jenkins: Well, you see where women are now: Lil’ Kim, Remy Ma, Foxy Brown have all been to jail or are on their way there. If you think about the roles that men have found themselves in hip-hop, as far as real life vs. the street and how important the street is to your credibility, it seems like women threefold have been caught up in a lot of the traps that befall men in the industry. There just seems to be a huge, huge missing slot for them. There’s really nothing exciting happening for women in hip-hop, or at least, women in rap. Not right now.
Jefferson “Chairman” Mao: Besides those rappers getting caught up in drama, even Lauryn Hill, who people look to as being the premier female rap artist, she kind of lost her mind. (Laughs) It’s been this weird situation where everybody’s taken a hit one way or another.
Any theories as to why women have it so hard on the radio? Is it an issue of quality? Is it that people don’t want to hear women rap? Is it that record companies don’t know what to do with them?
SJ: I think it’s a combination of things, but mostly, hip-hop is just a boys’ club. It’s not that different than heavy metal. You don’t have a whole lot of women fronting successful heavy metal bands, and I think that there’s so much emphasis on the male ego, male aspirations and there’s a certain aggressiveness that hip-hop currently embodies that’s the antithesis of what might speak to a woman’s perspective. There are plenty of women who have a hard edge, who can dress the same street perspective that men can tackle, but I think that the audience, both men and women, feel like women aren’t credible in a lot of these roles. In a male-dominated culture, women take the backseat and I think that men and women play into that notion.
JCM: Hopefully if Miss Rap Supreme is successful in its goals, you’ll get an idea of what some of the obstacles are. You get to see how that plays out, based on that cast and what they’re going through internally. Or how they deal with jealousy and competition or just the fighting amongst women for the spotlight.
As people who know the game so well, do you guys, in your hearts, feel that hip-hop should change to be more accepting of women’s voices? I ask because I was reading egotrip’s Book of Rap Lists and in your Top 25 MCs, there is only one woman: Lauryn Hill.
SJ: Maybe that’s indicative of where the culture is: run by a bunch of angry, old men who only can respond what we are expecting to come from the culture. I think what’s refreshing about the show, not only for egotrip’s edification, but for the viewers’ as well, is that you’ve never seen such a broad array of women MCs with different perspectives that you’ll see on this show. It’s been difficult to get a full range of what women are capable of because they’ve been typecast and thrown in a box. The reason why Lauryn Hill is so widely revered, including by members of egotrip, is that she was able to demonstrate the full range that a female MC can embody, from her vocal harmonies to her straight-up skills. At the same time, she was very true to herself. I think that’s the same thing that can be said about white rappers and someone like Eminem. The reason why Eminem has been so successful is that he has been honest and true to what his experience was. Maybe Miss Rap Supreme will give the world the lady who’ll change all of our lives. I’m looking for a woman to change my life.
JCM: In our book from ’99, we did list Salt-N-Pepa as one of the greatest groups of all time. We didn’t totally neglect women. We’ve matured quite a bit in the past 9 years.
Can you talk about YoYo’s involvement on the show, and what she means to you as an MC?
SJ: YoYo embodies a pretty broad range of female MC. We shot the show on the West Coast, and she’s the queen of West Coast hip-hop in my opinion.
JCM: Not J.J. Fad?
SJ: J.J. Fad can be the princesses.
JCM: Oaktown’s 3-5-7?
SJ: YoYo was true to who she was, a real intelligent black women. She promoted being intelligent, being beautiful, but also having an opinion. That’s what we needed on the show. I think her being a mom was also a perspective that we felt was important. We have this hotel with these women who want to make it and be where YoYo has been. YoYo as an artist is someone we knew that the women would respect. I think for someone who is disenfranchised, someone who is of their ilk and who paved the way is going to automatically have respect.
Is the beauty pageant set-up a kitschy comment on the concept of femininity?
JCM: Yeah. Exactly. Part of the egotrip creative process is that we like to think of a title we like and go from there. There was some discussion of doing The Female Rapper Show, but that didn’t really do it for us. Miss Rap Supreme kinda sounds like Taco Bell should be sponsoring it. It has that kitschy quality. Everything sort of fell into place from there as far as the challenges went.
SJ: I can get really corny and cliché and say hip-hop in the beginning was about skills, and we know there were female MCs from the break of dawn. But the hip-hop industry sort of adapted the same standards as the beauty pageant game. Those were a lot of the things women in the industry had to live up to. So a lot of the show comments on that. I think a lot of our challenges speak to some of the traditional challenges you would find in a beauty pageant. What does that have to do with hip-hop? A lot of women who want to make it in the professional rap game are judged against those standards. Or they have had to live up to them and there are lots of really talented women who didn’t have careers or couldn’t get their foot in the door because they didn’t have standard beauty. But then you look at Missy Elliott, who’s always been big and beautiful and proud of who she was, but artistry was always first for her. We wanted to convey that, too, on the show.
It seems like you’re walking the fine line between condoning these ridiculous standards and telling it like it is.
SJ: Welcome to egotrip!
JCM: I think we had the same issues on The White Rapper Show. The danger was similar in terms of, like, well this is just a gag show. This is just made to make fun of white people. And there were elements of that, just dealing with the issues of being white and what that means when you’re a rapper. It’s a tricky balance. I think it’s a valid issue to raise, condoning and perpetuating. But it’s TV. Not everyone’s going to get subtlety.
That’s what makes it so risky!
JCM: Yeah. With everything we do, we try to make it work on a couple of levels. Promoting the show last season, we’d hear, “Man, these guys are wack and you guys are just making a joke out of hip-hop.” It’s like, are you looking around at what hip-hop is? Don’t you think that hip-hop has made a joke out of itself in some respect? We all know where it came from. I’m not saying the industry is complete bulls*** right now, but you have to see the big picture and know where the critique applies. Hopefully, if people got the show last time, they’ll see the same nuances this season as well.
Whenever anything kitschy popped up on screen of The White Rapper Show and now Miss Rap Supreme – charts, titles, lessons – I’ve always chalked that up to being egotrip’s singular touch. Am I right?
SJ: We’d like to think. We started out publishing a magazine that was primarily based on music that we love and toward the end of its run, humor became a big part of the magazine’s tone. Humor and kitsch and a lot of the things that influenced us coming up, be it The Mike Douglas Show, be it a weird beauty pageant, be it vintage hip-hop, be it the principles of hip-hop, these are all the things that are responsible for much of what we do today.
When the cast was announced, people were responsible to Khia’s participation. Did her status as a published MC come into conflict with any rules you’d set previously?
SJ: She’s indicative of where the industry is. She had a huge hit and we haven’t seen her on a major level in a long time. Why is that? Has she made poor business decisions? Has she been ripped off? Is it because she’s a woman? Who knows. But what I will tell you is that when the contestants were flying in, two cast members saw her on a plane and just assumed that she was gonna be a judge. It was a crazy surprise to them when she showed up as a contestant. But this is a woman who has a song about how she wants to have her neck and her back licked. I mean, that’s excellent television. I wanna know more about this woman!
JCM: We make our own rules, as LL Cool J once put it. It’s our pageant, it’s our show, we can do what we want. And having her on really is indicative of the dearth of available opportunities for females. You think about excluding someone who hasn’t had a chance, but at the same time, Khia’s storyline is so intriguing. This person’s career has been pretty much dormant since having a huge hit.
Can both of you do a rundown of your favorite female rappers, singles and albums of all time?
JCM: Rapper – I always loved Shanté. I just think her attitude and her voice and because she was one of the first to really do it. Singles? “Have a Nice Day” by her. MC Lyte’s “I Cram To Understand You (Sam)” and “Paper Thin” are up there. I like some of the Tanya and Paulette Winley stuff, but that’s for the real old timers. Album-wise? Because she’s lost her mind, it’s probably not cool to say Lauryn Hill’s album. But so many of the female artists, their singles were so much stronger. There have been a ton of really good singles.
SJ: Shanté for me epitomizes not just a female MC, but an MC. I think she had a very strong voice and a sense of humor. Lauryn Hill, where she was in her life really came out on The Miseducation. But I think the greatest female rapper in my life has been my mother. She’s always had a lot of attitude, a lot of flow and has always dealt with a lot of drama and beef. So I’m gonna have to vote for my moms.
Related content
Miss Rap Supreme show page
May 29th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I am nicky2states #1 fan!!!! I most definitely say she deserves another chance. She is a strong woman with a strong voice and has respect for all the ladies she competed with. She is the MC! The last show was defintely not fair at all. I say Nicky and Rece did their thing and both of them are a wonderful team.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I KNOW I COULD BE DA “BEAST” OF THIS SHOW. BUT I DO KNOW HOW TO VIBE OFF OF OTHER EMCEES AND MY VERSES ARE ABLE TO DO WHAT I WANT AND NEED THEM TO DO. I’M DA REALEST IN OR OUT THE GAME GET @ ME!!!
May 21st, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Chiba STOP HATING ! i can’t stand that )~_() Reese take your crown already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 21st, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Reese and Nicky are beasts on the mic especially my girl Reese keep doing yur thing mama and don;t let that hating _&* `(^$` Chiba (!#( it up for you Chiba go get a life and i really hope you don’t win.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I WAS WONDERIN HOW I COULD GET ON THE SHOW OR IF IT WAS TOO LATE IM THE RAWEST FEMALE RAPPER IN HUNTSVILLE RIGHT NOW AND BESIDES ITS MY TIME TO SHINE IS IT A WAY YOU COULD CONTACT ME SO THAT I COULD GET ON NATIONAL TELEVISION AND SHOW ALL THESE GIRLS OUT? I NEVER WATCHED THE SHOW FOR MYSELF BUT I KNOW THAT FROM WHAT EVERYONE IS TELLING ME I AM SO MUCH BETTER THAN THEY ARE I JUS WANNA SHINE AND GET NOTICED CAN YOU HELP ME
May 21st, 2008 at 2:03 am
im deidre valdez and i’m helly gay .i love gurls .i’m just bisexual or maybe lesiban .i think bree is so fineeeeeee! i need her . she’s is so bomb .i need to hit that and pursue that .i’m in high school and my b-day is cinco de mayo.i’ kinda of young of . but age ain’tnothin but # 4 rea theo . i want to get to know you. i could defininitly satisify you. i have alot to offer to you espically to you of course . your are seriously hottttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt! i realy need agurl like you ! i like your personaity and bad %&& swagger,it’t hot.turns me on lol 4real i’m being real . you remain me of a gurl that goes to my school .she kinda of looks like you , but you look helly better! she plays hard to get but .i like itso r you single ? i think i would be googd 4 you i feel weird tryin to get at you over enternet ! i felt like i had to tell you somethin ,some how well go togo peace bree aka sexy lady [ 559-221-0593]
1
3
May 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
some of these females are good rappers but most of them are just good entertainment ms cherry kind of reminds me of new york and needs to calm down but she’ll be ok. nasty…….. i mean nicky 2 states needs to go to charm school she is just too damn nasty i can’t believe that a woman like this has children put some clothes on you nasty )#%^) and find some class.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hi im a raper from bad news VA, Im only twenty-one years old so i dont know to much about the rapers in the older days but… the once that i have learned to love would be missy and I know a little about Queen Pen she was hot in her days they both had stories that you can relate to Queen’s was more in a hard way were Missy like to make you smile and dance so as a female raper i can say i learned a lot from those two and hopefully I can achieve my dream as becoming a raper so i can one day be an insperation to others like they where to me.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Are you telling me that these are the best female rappers they could find? Come on!!! These girls suck. Lioness? Lioness? She is terrible. I’ll admit that maybe 3 or 4 of them have some talent, but I know babies that can spit better.
Serch and Yo Yo, you look silly. Lioness can’t rap. Bree can’t rap. Byata can’t rap. Why didn’t yall get a real rapper like Lyte to host the show. Now she can spit.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 am
for all the khia fans out there please read all these comments and try and realize if u like her because of her lyrics or because she’s your neighbor
April 21st, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Im so damn glad khia is off the show she was already in da game and couldnt stand a chance wit rookies how non talented can you get@^% PeeP game (Lady Twist and Cherry) they good keep it up yall holla
April 21st, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I think Khia is cool as hell. I’m mad she got eliminated. That girl can rap. And she’s already sold lots of copies of singles. So whateva she still gonna do her thang. Don’t hate.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:24 pm
SO YEAH..THANK GOD THAT KHIA IS OUT OF THERE…COME ON B ORIGINAL…BUT FOR THE FACT..THESE WOMEN ARE RAPPERS… THEY MAY NOT B AS FAST AS THE MEN OR WAT HAVE U…BUT THEY ARE RAPPERS… THEY TAKE THEIR LIVES AND THINGS THAT OCCURRED IN THEIR LIVES AND THEY RAP ABOUT IT… SO KYLE FLYNN STEP BACK WITH THAT ISH…ANYWYAS…I WANNA GIVE MAD SHOUT OUTS TO MAH N**** LADYTWIST…. GURL THE PAST FEW DAYS U A MESS…BUT I STILL LOVE U…CHECK UR MESSAGES AND LASTLY TO MAH FUTURE WIFIE..((I WISH)) BREE…SHOW THE WORLD WAT US SHORT FOLKS GOT…STAY SEXXII LOVE… I LOVE YA…AND LET THESE WOMEN DO THEY THING…KEEP IT REAL LADIES..
April 21st, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I am sorry but none of these girls are rappers. At least khia raps! The show is done with for me now. I mean %_~$ if you were gonna kick khia, then kick khia… did you seriously let that german (!^_% back on the show? You GOTSTA be kidding me. What a joke. The SHOW is a joke. MC SERCH stick to ‘white’ rapper shows. At least you seem relevant there.
That’s da truth!
~Kyle
April 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Why did they kick lioness to the curb and keep played-out %^& khia on the first episode, then turn around and air the 2nd first episode with lioness in the house and khia back in florida (thank GOD). HOW COULD THEY DO THAT WITH NO EXPLAINATION!!!!
April 21st, 2008 at 12:36 am
love tha hate is al good yo Its a reality show so all the cry babies thats saying ah my god why nicky2states beating uP on lil dum !^+ im sorry d.a.b tell her to keep her lil dirty lil secrests to her self shes the one who felt she wanted to tell the world about her business not nicky .yall cry babys want real t.v right well nicky is as real as it gets lil grls where i come from dont use the drugs she talking about that +!@^ was in 2006 alright move on seems like shewas missing it she probaly rap better.. yall all mad for what keep da hate up.you know what khia may have spit some +!@^ to cherry miss over bite ,but so what if she ws a `))^(^ trying to get back on yall *@%$! es would not be hattin i r.e.s.pe.c.t her for GRINDING _#@ THAT WHO CARES WHAT A ANOTHER MOTHER ^(+# ER SAY..TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY AND KEEP GRINDING ITS VH1 MY NEEEZYS YALL DIDDNT THINK IT WAS GOING TO BE DRAMA HAHAHAHA.LOL .
April 20th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Why is Khia on this show? Everything that she has gotten she stole. People in Tampa know that the real reason that she is a one hit wonder is because she stole a song from another underground artist and ran with it. In other words she relied on the talent of a proven rapper and now she can’t come up with anything of her own. The evidence is in her performance on the show. She is building the image of being a thief. I feel bad that she took the opportunity from someone who would have actually deserved it.
Also we know why Khia is confused about her home town. Everybody in Tampa knows where she lived and they know that she is a fake. She needs to stop claiming Miami because Miami ladies have way more class than she. Finally, she can’t even stand by the women in Atlanta if she wanted to. The best thing for her is to crawl under a rock and stay there.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:03 am
KHIA GOT SENT HOME! LOL! ALL BECAUSE SHE USED THAT HOOK RESPECT ME THAT WAS ALREADY ON AN UNDERGROUND CD!!! HOW THIS ~(&)$ THINK NO ONE WOULD KNOW THIS %@(#
April 19th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
KHIA’S USING ^_`) SHE ALREADY RECORDED! THAT RESPECT ME IS ALREADY ON AN UNDERGROUND CD! I GOT IT! WHEN I HEARD THIS _%(@) SPITTIN THAT ^_`) ON VH1 I PULLED OUT THAT CD AND SURE ENOUGH ITS ON THERE! SHE’S A CHEATER AND AIN’T SUPPOSED TO BE USING HER ^_`) ON THAT SHOW!! KICK THIS PHONY TO THE CURB ALREADY!!
April 19th, 2008 at 12:20 am
what is the girl’s BREE real name she looks like somone i might have gone to high school with
April 18th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
YEAH, I THINK MISS CHERRY SHOULD GO BACK TO WHEREVER IT IS SHE CAME FROM.. I PERSONALLY DON’T HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR !&@#^ ES LIKE HER WHO DO NOTHING BUT CALL OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN WHERE SHE’S TRYING TO GET A ONE HIT WONDER.. I’D LIKE TO SEE IF SHE HAD THE BALLS TO SAY THAT TO YOYO. I HOPE SHE GOES BACK TO PICKIN CHERRIES FOR FOOD..LOL
April 18th, 2008 at 12:59 am
J Otis, You hit it right on the nose. If it was all about topic, Lionezz did her thing. I just hate the fact that they would chose to keep wack azz Khia over her because they want to keep the show drama filled. That broke my heart. I thought that you had to be an up and coming emcee. Not a broke, one hit wonder rapper, trying to get some money in her pocket. You saying hooks of your corny azz street demo. THAT’S LAME KHIA!!!! You didn’t make it to the top the first time. You need to take Kat Williams advice and become a real estate broker or something. Hip Hop is Dead!!!!! Corny decisions like that will put the nail in the coffin.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:15 am
I gotta write this cuz I watched the show and i was dismayed about the elimination challenge …. First I must admit i did not see the entire episode but i did watch the elimination …. And to eliminate Lionezz was the worst decision I have ever seen ….. i shows how out of touch M.C. Search (and I have been a fan of him, before he started this TV show business) and Yo-Yo are with actual hip hop …. Lionezz was the only m.c who actually attacked the topic …. She represented who helped/ inspired her to become an M.C…. she had witty punchlines … and a command of the lyrical ability … She didn’t not have the best delivery, but she had the best verse IMHO of all the females because it was the only one that was actually addressed the topic …. The rest of them just seems like they were spittin previously writtin battle rhymes, spittin bragadoceio or attacking each other rather than the topic of representin for female m.c.’s ….. Lionezz was my favorite emcee of the elimination challenge .. And I think that it will do the show a great injustice to keep a whole lot of female emcees that have INFERIOR LYRICAL ABILITY ….. This will make it hard for me as an Emcee to watch the rest of the show … If this is best female emcee compatition that VH1 has to offer than maybe Nas was partly right … Hip Hop is dying and it’s old skool rappers who’s careers fell off HARD that are gonna kill it
April 17th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I thougt chiba did her thing.. and she’s hot!!!!
April 16th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
khia did not write a new 16 she spit from her bogus cd (gangstress) she gota go………//ps. 30 aint the new 20 for her
April 16th, 2008 at 12:34 am
i thought khia was already a rap , i guess my girl trina was right bout her ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!
April 15th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
PERSONALLY…… I USUALLY GIVE RESPECT WHEN IT’S DUE AND I AM DEFINITLEY NOT A HATER. BUT IS IT ME OR ARE ALL OF THESE CHICS WACK!!!!!!! I MEAN DAMN !!!! THAT’S THE BEST THEY CAN DO? EVERYBODY’S ABOUT DRAMA AND JEALOUSY. THEM _!+^! ES IS FOCUSED ON THE WRONG THING!!!!! DON’T GET ME WRONG I LIKE THE SHOW. I LIKE WATCHING THEM MAKE A FOOL OUT OF THEM SELVES. ACTUALLY AT THIS POINT NOBODY’S GAME IS UP TO PAR. HOPEFULLY IN THE COMING EPISODES SOMEONE WILL STEP UP THEIR GAME. I GOT MUCH PROPS FOR ALL ASPIRING FEMALE RAPPERS BECAUSE I AM ONE MYSELF BUT YOU GOT TO UNDERSTAND IT IS SO MUCH HARDER FOR US TO GET RESPECTED SO WE GOTTA COME WITH IT AT ALL TIMES. WE ALL CAN BE THE BEST AT WHAT WE DO. NO TWO PEOPLE ARE THE SAME. I WOULDN’T BE SURPRISED IF THEY DIDN’T DO A SEASON TWO. MAYBE SOMEBODY NEED TO CALL THESE CHICS OUT MAYBE THEY’LL STEP IT UP. BECAUSE RIGHT NOW, I DON’T WANT TO BE REPRESENTED BY ANY OF THEM CHICS. AND NICKI2STATES, FOXY BROWN WISH TO BE UHN UHN AIN’T GON BE ABLE TO DO IT. SHE IS CRAP!!!!!!! MISS CHERRY: HER ATTITUDE IS ^@_* TY!!!!! AND KHIA! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ON THIS SHOW IF YOU ARE ALREADY IN THE GAME? CHOP IT UP SWEETY IT’S OVER. MY NECK AND MY BACK WAS MY ^@_* BUT YOUR REIGN IS OVER HUN. ALL MY REAL FEMALE RAPPERS LET’S GET PREPARED FOR SEASON 2 AND MAKE IT THE BEST “MISS RAP SUPREME” EVER.