Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, and the Women Who Owned the Mic
The Golden Age of hip-hop wasn’t just a boys’ club. From Queen Latifah’s crown to Lauryn Hill’s Grammy sweep, the women of 90s rap rewrote the rules of who got to hold the mic.
The Golden Age of hip-hop wasn’t just a boys’ club. From Queen Latifah’s crown to Lauryn Hill’s Grammy sweep, the women of 90s rap rewrote the rules of who got to hold the mic.
Between 1990 and 1999, Golden Age hip-hop stopped bragging and started narrating — turning rappers like Nas, Biggie, and the Wu-Tang Clan into the great American storytellers of the decade.
From The Chronic to Illmatic, the Golden Age of hip-hop turned the 1990s into the most fearless decade rap ever had. Here’s how it happened.