Music Review: Miss Eaves "Feminasty"

Growing up I listened to a lot of hip hop.    I still have the cassettes to prove it.   And the one thing that always stands out to me with my taste in rap music is that it's always Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Tribe, various soundtracks and they all add up to the same thing: men.   Yes, you could name a handful of women who are rappers but there are either not as many in general or they just don't get the same spotlight as their counterparts do.    So when I listen to a woman who has rhymes I kind of feel like it's special- a once in a lifetime occurance- even though the reality of it is that it should be a much more every day type of feel.   (Though my rant about how young women don't have women in hip hop to look up to outside of a few will be for another time)

There are two things that every piece of music should accomplish and on "Feminasty" Miss Eaves knocks both of them out of the park.   Of course the first thing is the music quality.   In terms of hip hop, this needs to be somewhat catchy, something you get stuck in your head but can also bob your head to and, well, that overall appeal of it is right up there with the best I've heard because it started for me with "Thunder Thighs" being stuck in my head, which resulted in my listening to all of the other songs as well and now I'll find myself randomly walking around singing "Friend Zone".

Aside from music being important (nails on a chalkboard and all that) I find lyrics to be the second key ingredient and, yes, since someone like Miss Eaves doesn't come along every day I am breaking it back down to the basics for you.   Even if the music itself is top notch, I don't want to be listening to songs about topics I don't enjoy and I think we all know what the immediate red flags are (Anything that generates any type of legitimate hate).   But with wrappers you also have to possess this flow, this rhyme scheme and it's not something everyone can do but Miss Eaves does so in a manner which I dare say feels like she is born to do.

In a lot of ways I feel like I grew up with hip hop in the sense that if you look at what is "old school" or ask people about their favorite rappers and influences most don't go back to the time before I was born.    I've seen a lot of things in hip hop and one of the things which always seems to stick out- which I feel needs to be pointed out here no matter how many others will point it out it still can be repeated- is how rappers have treated women.   So many people will say that rap is negative towards women because of the words they use.

What you have to understand is that if there is a rapper out there- a man-who you feel is sexist and maybe speaks of women in a way which you don't agree, Miss Eaves is kind of the opposite of that and not in a derogatory way (let's put those pitchforks away) but in the way that she is finally calling men out on their shit with her songs and that just seems like poetic justice.      The fact that Miss Eaves is one of a kind coupled with my belief that women in hip hop should be more prevelant is what truly makes this music so vital.