THE RISE OF THE FEMCEE ?
The year 2013 is seeing a fast and steady rise in female MC ’ s now known as “ Femcee ’ s ”. Though this may be the case female rappers have been around for a very long time , but either do not receive the same reputation as their male counterparts or have to rely on their body image , for example Nicki Minaj , Pink Hair , doll face look and of course short clothing to expose her ever increasing bottom . What does it take for a female to be recognized as a great rapper ? We at 50 / 50 had the chance to speak with Amplified Dot ( known as A . Dot for short ). A . Dot has just recently been signed to Virgin Records and has been dubbed as a rising Femcee waving the flag for all other female rappers . Here ’ s what A . Dot had to say .
You ’ ve been on the scene for ages for a very long time and now you ’ re signed to Virgin Records . What kept you motivated while you was on the rise ?
Erm ... that ' s a good question . I love music and I ' ve always wanted to take my music to bigger and bigger audiences so I mean , I started of small , selling mix CD ’ s locally and mix tapes out and then YouTube and then iTunes , what ' s kept me motivated is the endless possibility for reaching people . Some people can get down hearted thinking , I ’ m not reaching as many people as I want to reach " but I mean , everything is a process . You may have 200 likes on your YouTube video now and in a few months it ' s grown to 500 . It was that potential for growth that kept me inspired .
Okay so taking it back in 2001 in a Missy Elliot concert in Brixton , you actually accepted Missy Elliot ' s challenge to come up to the stage and rap . What was going through your mind as you were approaching the stage ?
Well , at the time I was 13 years old and very young . I was nervous but I loved rap music and I loved Missy Elliot and when she said can anybody in the audience rap , I jumped at the chance . And 6 people got pulled out of the audience and I was one of them . I think the nerves went away and I just got into a zone . I thought " how often am I going to get a chance to be on stage at Brixton academy , in front of a sold out crowd with Missy Elliot watching me ?" I chose to just own the moment and I ' ve never looked back really .
Now , you ' re being hailed as one of the new wave of rappers and this new title Femcee has been attached to your name . Are you alright with being called a Femcee ?
I just don ’ t see the need for it . Because I think it puts you in a sub-dvision , in a box ; the MCs are over here and the Femcees are over there . Apparently the females have got to be in their own league . I hate anything like that . It ' s divisive and it makes it seem as though we as female artists can ’ t contend with the men .
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