An illustrated highlight reel of more than 100 women in rap who have helped shape the genre and eschewed gender norms in the process. Some of these women were respected but not widely celebrated. Some are impossible not to know. Some of these women have stood on their own; others were forced into templates, compelled to stand beside men in big rap crews. Some have been trapped in a strange critical space between respected MC and object

Clover Hope is a Brooklyn-based writer who has previously worked as an editor at Vibe, XXL, Billboard, and Jezebel. Hope has written for a range of publications far and wide, including Essence, GQ, Wall Street Journal Magazine, the New York Times, Cosmo, Elle, and the Village Voice, among others. She is currently a contributing editor at Pitchfork and an adjunct professor at NYU. She was a cowriter on Beyoncé’s Black Is King film.