The other night, BET aired their documentary about women in hip-hop. The one-hour special featured the likes of Eve, Roxanne Shante, Trina, Missy, Jean Grae, Lady of Rage, MC Lyte and a host of other women discussing the rise and fall (and hopeful rise) of female emcees in the music industry. The insightful documentary outlined the femcees of yesterday, today and tomorrow as well as the issues women rappers deal with when trying to breakthrough the music industry.

While the special was indeed praise worthy, one has to wonder what hand BET has played into the plight of the female rapper. Honestly, it’s not like the ladies of hip-hop have disappeared, they just aren’t being given the spotlight by our media outlets. Women like Jean Grae, Invincible, Tiye Phoenix, Eternia and others have been ripping mics to shreds for years. Now they get a special? I don’t know, it sounds fishy to me. I, personally, am leaning toward the idea that the network needed an outlet to promote their Darling Nicki Minaj rather than really caring about the situation. But alas, whatever gets shows like this to air, I’m all for it—even if the motive is cloudy. Check out the video below.

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