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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