Kathy Iandoli "God Save the Queens: The Essential History of Women In Hip-Hop" Book (2019)

Details: Kathy Iandoli's awesome tome on the Women of Hip-Hop is essential just like the title says! Read this, and then watch Roxanne Roxanne (about the life of Roxanne Shanté released in 2017). Available in original hardcover, or paperback, format. 373 pages, including an intense research index section. Copies of this book come from Microcosm and may have a deadstock mark across the bottom leaves of the book. 

Short Description: "For far too long, women in hip-hop have been relegated to the shadows, viewed as the designated “First Lady” thrown a contract, a pawn in some beef, or even worse. But as Kathy Iandoli makes clear, the reality is very different. Today, hip-hop is dominated by successful women such as Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, yet there are scores of female artists whose influence continues to resonate."

Grade: M/NM

Full Description: "Can’t Stop Won’t Stop meets Girls to the Front in this essential and long overdue history of hip-hop’s female pioneers and its enduring stars.

Every history of hip-hop previously published, from Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop to Shea Serrano’s The Rap Yearbook, focuses primarily on men, glaringly omitting a thorough and respectful examination of the presence and contribution of the genre’s female artists.  

For far too long, women in hip-hop have been relegated to the shadows, viewed as the designated “First Lady” thrown a contract, a pawn in some beef, or even worse. But as Kathy Iandoli makes clear, the reality is very different. Today, hip-hop is dominated by successful women such as Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, yet there are scores of female artists whose influence continues to resonate."

Author: Kathy Iandoli is a critically acclaimed journalist and author. She has written for Vibe, The Source, XXL, Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Pitchfork, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, Maxim, The Guardian, Vice, and many other publications. She has held editorial positions at top hip-hop/urban websites, including AllHipHop.com, HipHopDX.Com, and BET.com. Iandoli is an alumna-in-residence of Music Business at New York University and has appeared across the media, in television and on radio and panels discussing hip-hop and gender. She lives in northern New Jersey.

Quotes:

"Until now, far too many hip-hop historians have chosen to tokenize female MC's in hip-hop or relegate them to the margins as 'hidden figures.' Kathy Iandoli's "God Save the Queens" refuses to do either. Instead, it's an entertaining and accessible page-turner that corrects the historical record by crucially repositioning women in hip-hop as essential figures a the front and center of the art form, from day one. At a pivotal cultural moment in which progressives are striving to create a future defined by gender equality rather than disparity, Iandoli's book feels right on time." --Jason King, writer, journalist, scholar, New York University's The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music

"Kathy Iandoli makes this a love letter to some of the female MCs who have grabbed the mic and helped to build hip-hop into the world's biggest musical empire. "God Save the Queens," tells the epic story of these pioneers, from the early days of Sparky Dee and Roxanne Shanté to the new school of Young M.A. and Megan Thee Stallion." --Rob Sheffield, author of Dreaming the Beatles, winner of the 2017 Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism

"God Save the Queens" is essential, and a book the world needs to read--to raise up the voices of the women in rap who've been running and rhyming right beside the men for decades. Kathy Iandoli tells the stories of the marquee names and those that should have been, finally giving us the true history of hip-hop from the beginning and a glimpse at the glorious future." --Gabrielle Union, actress, activist, and New York Times bestselling author of We're Going To Need More Wine

An NPR Best Book of the Year

"Without God Save the Queens, it is possible that the contributions of dozens of important female hip-hop artists who have sold tens of millions of albums starred in monumental films, and influenced the direction of the culture would continue to go unrecognized." —AllHipHop.com

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop meets Girls to the Front in this essential and long overdue history of hip-hop’s female pioneers and its enduring stars.

Every history of hip-hop previously published, from Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop to Shea Serrano’s The Rap Yearbook, focuses primarily on men, glaringly omitting a thorough and respectful examination of the presence and contribution of the genre’s female artists.  

For far too long, women in hip-hop have been relegated to the shadows, viewed as the designated “First Lady” thrown a contract, a pawn in some beef, or even worse. But as Kathy Iandoli makes clear, the reality is very different. Today, hip-hop is dominated by successful women such as Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, yet there are scores of female artists whose influence continues to resonate.

God Save the Queens pays tribute to the women of hip-hop—from the early work of Roxanne Shante to hitmakers like Queen Latifah and Missy Elliot, to the superstars of today. Exploring issues of gender, money, sexuality, violence, body image, feuds, objectification, and more, God Save the Queens is an important and monumental work of music journalism that at last gives these influential female artists the respect they have long deserved.