Posts about Doja Cat
It’s been a great few years for women in rap, but as you probably know, it wasn’t always like this. After a bit of a renaissance in the 90s and early 00s as covered in the Legendary 2000s MCs rate writeup by u/Awkward_King, Nicki Minaj basically became the only woman in rap that got any mainstream attention. There were a few others who got the spotlight occasionally— including Iggy Azalea and one hit wonders like Kreashawn and Young M.A. Acclaimed but more underground figures like Rapsody and Noname existed, but only one female rapper was allowed to stick around with the general public.
All of that changed in 2017. Cardi B began her chart breakthrough with “Bodak Yellow”, the first solo song by a female rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100 since Lauryn Hill in 1998 and the second ever in history. It’s no wonder the song topped the charts— Cardi’s authentic & humorous personality combined with her rag-to-riches story made it so easy for the public to root for her. But the greater impact of that song and Cardi’s future output was that it slammed the door open for other women in rap. The general public was suddenly more open to the narratives of other female rappers. Success felt more tangible to women in hip hop, who no longer had to compete for a solitary spot.
Since then, two other rap stars established themselves in the way that Cardi did. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion became inescapable on both TikTok and radio, in both charts discussions and award shows, and in both rap and pop circles. These three women have proved themselves as the new queens of rap in the moment; it only seems right to have them duke it out with the albums that solidified their domination. My co-host u/akanewasright and I invite you to a rate with some of the wittiest, hottest, realest women in rap today.
If you know all the rules already and are ready to get into it (yuh):
Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube | Tidal
I don’t dance now
I make money moves
In 2017, one would sooner call Cardi B a reality star or an Internet celebrity before calling her a rapper. While Cardi already notched two mixtapes and a Billboard Hot 100 #1 under her belt at this point, the general public was cautious to call her anything other than a one-hit-wonder. Post-Bodak, Cardi had released a couple of collabs, but her overall staying power weighed on the performance of her forthcoming debut. People were curious to see if there was more to her than her braggadocious, snappy quips. Such enormous expectations for an album may have caused a lesser artist to flounder, but Cardi B was able to flourish.
Invasion of Privacy was a massive success as a debut album, not in terms of critical acclaim or awards or streaming records (though it has all those too), but in its ability to demonstrate to the public who Cardi B is exactly, in a tracklist half the length of her male peers. Each track unabashedly illustrates a different side of her larger-than-life personality. The most familiar are songs such as “Bickenhead”, filled to the brim with comedic, explicit one-liners that feel natural to the reality star. But the biggest surprises are the more intimate album cuts. Cardi isn’t afraid to get more vulnerable on tracks like “Get Up 10”, an awe-inspiring, autobiographical look at her difficult road to stardom or her pop-inspired “Be Careful”, which delves into the insecurities & frustrations she faced in a high-profile relationship. The best example of Cardi’s range on the album though is with its behemoth, bilingual hit, “I Like It”, an homage to her Latin roots with features from reggaeton stars Bad Bunny and J Balvin. The song was inescapable in the summer of 2018, earned Cardi her second Billboard #1, and solidified her popularity for years to come. Cardi could have played it safe by releasing an LP of “Bodak Yellow”’s; yet by tackling a wide breadth of genres, collaborations, and subject matters, her debut has become a mainstay of the modern rap canon. It paid off in more tangible ways too— Invasion of Privacy was the first album by a solo woman to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album, it’s the most streamed female rap record on Spotify & Apple Music, and the longest charting female rap album on the Billboard 200.
With all Invasion of Privacy was able to achieve in the past few years, it remains to be seen if it can replicate that success in its biggest competition yet… a Popheads rate.
Get Up 10
Drip (feat. Migos)
Bickenhead
Best Life (feat. Chance the Rapper)
Money Bag
She Bad (feat. YG)
Thru Your Phone
I Do (feat. SZA)
Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube | Tidal
Said play with my pussy
But don't play with my emotions
With how massive of a star Doja Cat is these days, it’s strange to see how lackluster her career beginnings were. Just take a look at how Wikipedia describes the rollout of her first album. Between a debut that made no noise, a label that did not support her financially, and even Doja not taking her own career seriously, it’s miraculous that all it took to change trajectory of her life was a throwaway video she made for “Mooo!”. The meme song instantly went viral, gaining almost 5 million views in 2 weeks. As silly as “Mooo!” was, it was the catalyst for Doja to start approaching her career more thoughtfully; after all, it proved her marketability to her label and inevitably set the tone for all her future endeavors.
Her second studio album, Hot Pink, is in Doja’s own words “a restart to her career”. And it really was an upgrade in every way. Her songwriting is more refined, the hooks are catchier, and the sound is indeed hotter and pinker; it’s just a more fitting introductory project for the goofy soon-to-be superstar. Fans of “Mooo!” will see she’s as charismatic & humorous as ever, such as on her ode to the terminally horny online, “Cyber Sex”. But Hot Pink’s biggest strength is showing Doja’s versatility as an artist. On “Rules” she’s showing off her technical skills, changing her flow and tone multiple times a la Kendrick Lamar. Other tracks such as R&B fan fave, “Streets” and the disco-lite “Say So” have her effortlessly switch between rapping and singing; giving the illusion of Doja serving as a feature on her own songs. The latter would soon become her biggest hit; while nearly half of the tracklist has some sort of TikTok trend attached to it, a remix with Nicki Minaj is what pushed “Say So” into becoming both of their first Billboard 100 #1s.
Hot Pink has had incredible longevity after its release— it’s partially because of Doja’s raw talent, definitely. But more importantly, Doja’s got a keen awareness of what exactly her audience wants from her and she’s not afraid to provide it. So it’s no wonder she became the winner of the first modern rap girl rate the sub did a few years ago, but time will tell if she’s able to repeat the feat.
Won't Bite (feat. Smino)
Like That (feat. Gucci Mane)
Talk Dirty
Addiction
Shine
Better Than Me
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | Tidal
Look, why you wanna do the bad bitch wrong?
'Bout to make this every bad bitch song
TW: gun violence
Megan Thee Stallion began her breakthrough in 2019 with her first singles (“Big Ole Freak,” “Cash Shit,” and “Hot Girl Summer”) and the release of her mixtape Fever. 2020 looked like it would be her year, with growing hype, rising TikTok success, and an anticipated debut album… and then 2020 happened.
The Houston-born rapper began having label issues, with 1501 Certified Entertainment blocking her from releasing any music after she attempted to initiate a contract renegotiation. She sued her label, and while she was granted a temporary restraining order to release her EP Suga, the case is still ongoing. A few months after this, she was allegedly shot in the feet by her then-friend Tory Lanez, requiring her to have surgery to remove the bullets. He denied her allegations, and Megan has been the target of online abuse from his fans ever since. With all of this on top of 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic and high profile racially motivated police shootings - both of which personally affected her, as a black woman and as a woman working towards a degree in health administration - it was an awful year for her personally. But she decided that, instead of taking all of this to heart, what she needed was to spread some Good News.
Megan Thee Stallion’s debut album is, all in all, an exercise in positivity and keeping your head held high while going through bullshit. This isn’t to say she ignores her personal struggles - album opener “Shots Fired” is a scathing diss track mocking Tory Lanez and her haters (while also revealing her for the technically gifted rapper she is) and “Go Crazy” talks about her responses to the hate campaigns from his fans - but even through those, she maintains a powerful, unbothered affect. But those are just the songs that allude to personal hardships - on the more fun songs, she’s even stronger. Megan made her name on confident songs about her sexuality, and those don’t disappoint here - instant TikTok hit “Body” features swaggering bars about her love of her own curves, album cut “Work That” has her describing her own prowess with a chorus partly made up of her signature “ah” noises, and she calls in filthy rap icons City Girls for reinforcements on “Do It on the Tip”. The album even sees her dabbling a bit more in the pop side of things as well, with her sampling a Jazmine Sullivan song on “Circles” to great effect, getting a pop chorus from SZA on standout “Freaky Girls”, and her trying out singing a straight up pop song on “Don’t Rock Me to Sleep”. And of course, there’s the song that may be her biggest hit to date, the immediately acclaimed “Savage Remix” with a feature from none other than Beyoncé, her first #1. Good News was an immediate critical and commercial success, going on to net Megan three Grammy wins, including for Best New Artist, solidifying her place as one of the most successful women in the rap game. But will her acclaim and technical prowess be enough for her to take on the competition?
Shots Fired
Circles
Do It on the Tip (feat. City Girls & Hot Girl Meg)
Sugar Baby
Freaky Girls (feat. SZA)
What's New
Work That
Intercourse (feat. Popcaan & Mustard)
Go Crazy (feat. Big Sean & 2 Chainz)
Don't Rock Me to Sleep
Outside
Savage Remix (feat. Beyoncé)
Girls in the Hood
Like most major rappers over the past few decades, all of these women have done a number of features on pop songs. They all had… varying levels of success with this, to say the least, but this rate wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t give an overview of their “rent-a-rapper” eras. Join us for a mid-off bonus rate of the scant highs and numerous lows of their ventures into mom pop radio!
Ed Sheeran - South of the Border (feat. Camila Cabello & Cardi B)
Ariana Grande - 34+35 Remix (feat. Doja Cat & Megan Thee Stallion)
DJ Snake - SG (with Ozuna, Megan Thee Stallion, & Lisa of Blackpink)
Note: You do not have to do the bonus rate!!! It’s a lot of fun, but completely optional. In fact, you can rate as many or few songs in the bonus rate as you’d like (although it’s fairly short and doable). But because this is not part of the main rate, you cannot give your 11 or 0 to any song in the bonus rate (more on those later).
You have to listen to and rate every song. We will not accept any ballots with missing scores
You have to give each song a score between 1 and 10. You are allowed to give up to one decimal place for each song (for example: a 7.5 will be accepted, as will a 5.7, but not a 6.67 or 3.1415926535897932384). If you use decimals, please use a period/dot ( . ) and not a comma ( , ).
You may give one song in the rate an 11, and one song a 0. This should be reserved for your favorite and least favorite in the rate, to give it an extra boost in scoring. You do not have to, but again, it makes things more fun. NOTE: You only get one 11 and one 0 in the entire rate, NOT one 11 and one 0 per album. You cannot give any other scores above a 10 or below a 0.
Your scores should not be considered confidential. We will share them with your username attached to them, and if your score sucks, we very well might publicly shame you for it (all in good fun). This is just to say: keeping your scores secret will not save you from Akane's or my wrath.
Use the prepared link/ballot HERE to send in your scores. If that link fails you for any reason, feel free to just privately message u/akanewasright using the ballot format in THIS pastebin link.
If you want to change your scores for nearly any reason whatsoever, feel free to privately message one of the hosts and we will do so for you.
If you want to spice things up, you can add a comment next to your score. If you wish to do so, please use the following format:
Body: 1 docked a point for every “ody” until i couldn’t anymore
Anything variation from that format will not be accepted. Here are a few examples of what not to do:
I Like It (feat. Bad Bunny & J Balvin): 3: I don’t like it :(
Streets: Streets are saying this is the best song in the rate so I’m giving it my 11
Rules: (1) I hate following rules ://////
Comments are not required at all, but they are highly encouraged and will make the eventual reveal much more fun.
If you want to give an overall comment to the album, you can, using this format:
Album: Good News: The only good news in 2020 tbh
Do not attempt to sabotage songs/albums. The hosts WILL NOT accept your scores if we have any suspicion that you are trying to mess with a song’s score. If you have any questions about that, we'll be happy to answer them if you shoot me or Akane a reddit or discord message.
Thank you for reading, and happy rating!
DM to /u/akanewasright
playlist art by Nick, aka @CRXPeek on Twitter
