Sunday, April 14, 2013

Favorite Women Artists




Just when you think this blog caters only to guys i'm coming at you with something for everyone. Women always get lost in the shuffle when it comes to the male demographic of music listeners because guys can't relate to women's problems or whatever but let's be honest some stuff is just too good to let gender get in the way. Every guy been there where they be unconsciously singing "you don't know my name...baby baby baby bayyybaayy" and it's all good because music is music no matter who makes it. So in honor of women's appreciation month and mother's day next month or whatever other women's appreciation day there is here is Slim's list of favorite female artists. 

Honorable Mentions

Frank Ocean- i fuck with the dude's music period

Natasha Bedingfield- solely based on Pocket Full Of Sunshine not to be confused with Pocket Full Of Stones, RIP Pimp C.

Girl from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-  I don't know her name because i don't fuck with the groups music like that but the cochella performance i saw on youtube because i'm broke like that had me reminiscing. Maps was a damn good song and even Chip Tha Ripper samples a song of theirs. 

Pink- The homie be hitting those high notes sometimes and makes me think its a female.


The List

10. Hayley Williams
Better known as the front woman to the band Paramore. The band just dropped their fourth album after four years which saw Hayley break off into a little side adventure on B.O.B's Airplanes exposing her to a greater audience. Two of the bands founding members left the group back in 2010 which can help explain the delay but as if it were a secret, as long as the pumpkin haired girl is still singing her ass off then they're in good shape. The big sister got me into them when she kept playing Ignorance which led to me finding the acoustic version of that song and eventually looking into their other stuff. If you don't know what their early stuff sounds like it is the soundtrack to any person whose favorite shop is Hot Topic. I still gotta check out the new album but if this is how it's going to sound, we can count down the days until Hayley goes solo. Oh and she's from Meridian Mississippi which is the same town Big Krit is from and i wouldn't even be mad at a collabo because they would find a way to make it right.



9. Noah Jones
Has anyone else fallen under the radar further than Norah Jones? She burst onto the scene in 03 with her massive hits Come Away With Me and Don't Know Why leading her to pick up 5 Grammys and ever since then has just been chugging along and doing her thing. Now i'm not going to sit here and pretend like i've followed the homegirl's every step because it was only about a year ago that i remembered she existed when i came across a Q-Tip video for Life Is Better. That gave me some nostalgia and made me want to go check out her other stuff and in my opinion she has not released any subpar work. Like don't get it twisted she isn't the first person i'm looking for in itunes when i wake up but when the stars are aligned right i'll listen to a Norah Jones song and before i know it 2 hours passed by and i don't get the feeling of "fuck did i really just spend two hours listening to norah jones." No man, i got a smile on my face after that. 


8. Shakira
I don't mess with Shakira's entire catalog like that because it's actually a lot and i got better things to do. So with that being said i have only really dug into the singles from Shakira and for the most part i like them all with the exception of the Waka Waka song which will only be good if she does a remix with Waka Flocka. I, like everyone else, first caught wind of Shakira and her fondness for belly dancing on her African tribal anthem Whenever, Wherever. The other song she had that was cool despite me not knowing one single word she said was Objection which sounded like it was made for a Tarantino movie. After that she went away for a while before coming back strong with Illegal feat Santana, Beautiful Liar feat Beyonce (sounded like the masculine version to R. Kelly's Snake), and my personal favorite Hips Don't Lie feat Wyclef Playboy even though i could have done without the Wyclef feature (i'm sure wyclef picked up all the spanish bitches saying "mi casa, su casa"). Well that song really made me realize the vocal talent that Shakira and made me appreciate the fact she was more than someone who just shook her hips in videos. Then the last one i checked out from Shakira was She Wolf, spanish version is cool too, and i realized i liked damn near everything she has put out even though i never went out of my way to look for her stuff so she got me in a spell.


7. Jean Grae
If you don't know about Jean Grae she is a raw lyricist. Being that dope means it doesn't matter she is a female even male MC's recognize the talent and can't say anything bad about her. Recently it has been tough for female MC's to break through to the mainstream because recent ones needed to either rap about sex, Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, and Trina or they relied on a gimmick to get by, Missy Elliot. The last female to breakthrough was Eve to an extent and Lauryn Hill and even Lauryn was more an r&b artist than a rapper for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Jean Grae has no gimmicks, she is just a dope spitter who has a penchant for storytelling like in here, aqui, and on this feature. In my opinion the dopest female MC of all time and i give her the nod over Ms. Lauryn Hill because of the amount of work she has put out over her career.


6. Nelly Furtado
Now as you can see Ms. Nelly is one of the two lucky women that i've dedicated my blog too so of course i mess with the girls music like that. I love her first album, Loose which spawned classics like I'm Like A Bird, Turn Off The Light, and On The Radio (even though I prefer the Dan The Automater remix). I wasn't feeling the album that made her into a pop superstar, Loose, mainly because it didn't sound natural but i still will bump Say It Right every now and then. Nelly has kept a relatively low profile since then popping up on some seemingly random cuts like Sacrifice, Hot-N-Fun, and This Line so she is hood certified. The realest thing to come out of Canada shout out to Drake.  For further appreciation of her vocal talent make sure you check out her live performances on youtube or something.
 

5. Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys is one of the most talented artists out right now male or female. She can sing, play the piano like a boss, craft songs, and put on a hell of a performance. She's even good at acting if put it the right role, check out Smokin' Aces. She burst onto the scene when she swept the Grammys in 2002 winning five of them based off the album Songs In A Minor spawning hits like Fallin and A Women's Worth but she wasn't done. Her next album The Diary of Alicia Keys won an additional four Grammy's cementing herself as the queen of the new millenium r&b. Although they aren't as good as her early works, Alicia Keys continues to make hits and for some strange reason married Swizz beats but we could forgive her if she continues to make great songs like Put It In A love Song, Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart, You Don't Know My Name, and My Boo.


4. Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill is so good that it took her just one solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and one album with her group, The Score, with the Fugees for her to be considered one of the greatest MC's of all time. Her talent is that good. Obviously everyone wishes we got more material out of Ms. Hill but who knows. Maybe because she released such a little amount of her recording is what makes her the mythological legend she is today. She could go bar for bar with anyone on the mic and could also sing her ass off which definitely helped her break into the mainstream. Among those that could sing and rap equally as well i could only think of Phonte as the only person to challenge her for that spot. She has too many classics like this, that, a little bit of this, more of that, this, that, aqui, alli, y la ultima


3. Erykah Badu
The Queen of neo soul. She has been doing what she has been doing her whole career and i really don't need to say much. I never met a person that said "yo fuck Erykah Badu." People either listen to her/love her or don't really listen to her. As you'll notice with these last several women i won't need to say much because their music speaks for themselves. When you have Apple Tree, On & On, Didn't Cha Know, The Healer (shout out to madlib for the beat), Window Seat, Love Of My Life, and You Got Me the resume speaks for itself. Even Krit flipped one of her tracks for King's Blues. Erykah Badu, you can do no wrong.


2. Gwen Stefani
If you guys read the Favorite Albums post then you already know i got mad love for Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. I'm telling you that album tragic Kingdom got me through some long mornings going to school on Bart. I fucked with that album heavy and a little bit of Rock Steady. As good as the band was it was no secret that Gwen Stefani was the key to everything. Without her there is no chance the band would be as big as they are. Obviously that meant she had to move on to a solo career and i thought her stuff was terrible but goddammit they were stuck in my head. Her work with No Doubt makes up for that terribly successful solo stint. When you got hits like Spiderwebs, Excuse Me Mister, Just A Girl, Happy Now, Sunday Morning, Don't Speak, Ex-Girlfriend, Hella Good, Hey Baby, and Underneath It All they make up for Bananas, 4 In The Morning, The Sweet Escape, Cool, and Rich Girl although Blow Ya Mind was cool, shout out to Eve. Wassup Gwen.


1. Sade 
The resume speaks for itself. I don't have to explain anything. If you're even a little bit familiar with Sade's music you know what i'm talking about and if you never gave her a listen then first slap yourself and then listen to Smooth Operator, Hang On To Your Love, No Ordinary Love, and Kiss Of Life (which MF Doom brilliantly flipped) but obviously these are just my personal favorites so do yourself a favor and look up her catalog on your own and you'll be happy you did. 


There it is with MY favorite female artists so if you don't agree make your own list and send it to me. So there you have it. I'm sure everyone has a different list. If someone throws up a legit Debbie Harry mention ima go crazy. Let me know what i should write about next. peace. 

Blondie- Heart Of Glass


 L7- Pretend That We're Dead



Janis Joplin- Piece Of My Heart 

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