In a world where hip hop’s throne is continually contested by males, female rappers have more than held their own — standing their ground and igniting the scene with fierce competition. In this epic countdown, we’ve got heavy hitters, rising stars, and audacious newcomers — female rap artists who are slaying the game, spitting hot bars, and shaking things up in ways we never saw coming.
Our list includes rhyming powerhouses like Megan Thee Stallion, who can dismantle any beat with her smooth flows and Texas charm. We’ve also got Nicki Minaj, the enduring queen who continues to command the rap realm with a natural, undeniable authority that’s all her own. We’re highlighting the dynamite Doja Cat, an artist known for her kaleidoscopic styles and whimsical lyrical tales, as well as GloRilla, who’s gone from unknown to Grammy-nominated superstar in just a year. Not to mention, we’ve got Flo Milli, who consistently delivers heat with her uncontainable energy and catchy one-liners.
We’re talking about Tierra Whack, the embodiment of quality over quantity, whose creativity and originality have consistently put her in a league of her own. Of course, we have Rapsody, who combines soul-bearing honesty with unrivaled technical skills to deliver tracks that echo in our minds and hearts. We couldn’t forget Snow Tha Product, who seamlessly switches between English and Spanish, as if language itself bends to her will, and the enigmatic Jean Grae, who has been trailblazing the New York underground scene with her unique approach to hip-hop.
So let’s get into it. From Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, and Cardi B, to Jean Grae, Rapsody and Che Noir, here are the top 25 best female rappers right now.
25 KenTheMan
Spitting unfiltered bars about sex, love, and riches, Ken’s subject matter is nothing unique, but her Southern swagger and witty pen game make her one of a kind. She rose to fame as a formidable freestyler with club-bouncing singles, but more recently her talent as an album artist has shone through in projects like 2021’s What’s My Name. With a taste for catchy trap production and the effortless mic presence to dominate any track, KenTheMan has struck the perfect balance between pop appeal and Southern grit. She may not get the same numbers as her contemporaries, but Ken has the natural hitmaking talent to be Houston’s next superstar.
24 Coi Leray
At this point, who doesn’t know Coi Leray? From David Guetta to Sabrina Carpenter, musicians all across the music industry have invited her on for features because she’s the cheat code to a hit song. But guest appearances aside, Coi Leray knows how to keep an album compelling. 2022’s Trendsetter is a star-studded marathon of trap bangers where the MC’s ability is in full form, contrasting braggadocious bars with slick melodic hooks. A master of melodic rap with no shortage of clever bars to hype herself up, Coi Leray has the natural star power to steal the show from any MC.
23 Lakeyah
With an XXL freestyle, a Gangsta Grillz mixtape and a Gucci Mane co-sign, Lakeyah already has an impressive resume, and she’s just getting started. The Milwaukee native is no stranger to trap production, with a keen ear for hard-hitting beats to perfectly fit her vicious style of rapping. Full of savage disses to the competition and unapologetic boasts, humble is the last word to describe Lakeyah, bragging about her ability in countless colorful ways to make sure the listener never forgets. Switching back and forth from crowd-moving bangers to melodic tales of her love life, she’s got the limitless energy and versatility to appeal to all kinds of rap fans.
22 Lola Brooke
Becoming a viral sensation from the moment she debuted, Lola Brooke is quickly rising in the ranks of female MCs. Her breakout single “Don’t Play With It” encapsulates everything that makes her special – a hyper aggressive presence and a disrespectful pen game, spitting enough fire to burn down her studio. Thriving on explosive New York drill production, her delivery is twice as sinister as her choice in beats, growling savage bars with a furious delivery that will make the listener feel threatened. Lola doesn’t care about a club hit or a catchy hook – with lyrics sharp enough to cut the mic in half, her ferocious ability is enough to make any song a bloodbath of bars.
21 Baby Tate
Boasting one of the most versatile skill sets in mainstream rap, Baby Tate can adapt to any style and won’t break a sweat. Unleashing her inner Missy Elliott on eccentric hits like “Pedi” and showing off the strength of her voice on ballads like “What’s Love”, Tate can master any sound from trap bangers to R&B slow jams. With a wicked sense of humor, her songs are packed with punchlines and comedic quotables, with a lightning-fast flow as entertaining as her lyrics. Flexing her multitalented ability on the mixtape Mani/Pedi, Baby Tate continues to hone her skills with every new release.
20 BIA
Thriving off features and EPs, BIA has risen to mainstream fame without a single album to her name. Rapping alongside legends from Nicki Minaj to J. Cole, she holds her own with an arsenal of flows and deliveries, acting like a different rapper in every track. She isn’t shy about her wealth, using no shortage of clever metaphors to describe her flashy lifestyle, spending more money in one day than her fans would in a lifetime. What BIA lacks in personal lyricism, she makes up for in her colorful pen, always finding over-the-top ways to brag as she shreds up the mic over hard-hitting drill beats.
19 Dreezy
Going independent might have hurt Dreezy’s sales, but her razor-sharp lyricism hasn’t changed a bit. Proving her prowess on Hitgirl, a nonstop barrage of bangers produced by Hit-Boy, her talent to juggle wordplay and spit witty bars about her wealth always entertains. Whether it be personal tales, romantic ballads or vicious disses to her enemies, Dreezy’s slick lyrical touch makes even the most basic idea into a memorable song packed with quotables. Doubling as a talented singer, she switches back and forth from delivering hard bars to singing elegant hooks, dominating any track like the ratchet rap equivalent to Lauryn Hill.
18 Leikeli47
She may hide her face under a mask, but Leikeli47 isn’t shy about showing off her wild ability on the mic. With a limitless supply of energy and an ear for unorthodox beats crammed with finely-chopped samples, she’s like a strange fusion of Lil Wayne and Missy Elliott. Her taste in beats is almost as odd as her delivery, whispering some bars and screaming others with a dynamic mic presence few MCs could rival. Rapping over all kinds of production from trap to dance to drumless hip hop, LK-47 is a musical chameleon whose layered lyricism fits nicely over any sound.
17 City Girls
Heavy bass, raunchy lyrics, and some Southern swagger – it’s a formula City Girls have perfected, turning every song into a club-shaking anthem. While JT is the stronger lyricist, Yung Miami brings a ferocious bravado to every verse, complementing each other perfectly without one MC ever outshining the other. The duo’s Miami bass production is heavy enough to cause an earthquake, but it’s in their pen game where City Girls shine most. Bragging about their sex lives with over-the-top metaphors and explicit wordplay, the duo are also professional con artists, spitting hilarious bars about how they scammed their way to the top. That authenticity puts City Girls a level above their contemporaries, filling their party-made bangers with personality.
16 Flo Milli
Give Flo Milli the most mundane beat and she will turn it into an unforgettable hit. She’s a natural performer, showing off with a hyperactive flow and unhinged energy that demands your attention. You Still Here, Ho? is a masterclass in delivery where Milli treats the studio like a live performance, hollering into the mic with the same manic charisma of an MC hyped up on stage. Full of witty one-liners and raunchy verses, her bars are made twice as impactful thanks to her delivery, never holding back as she changes her flow as often as she blinks.
15 Doechii
Top Dawg Entertainment has signed legends from Kendrick Lamar to Isaiah Rashad, so for Doechii to be the label’s latest addition, expectations couldn’t be higher for her career. Although she has no albums to her name, the TDE rookie has already shown her potential on quickfire projects like she / her / black bitch, switching from hip house bangers to soulful R&B cuts with the versatility to pull off any style. Spitting densely-packed rhymes with a lava-hot flow, Doechii has the charisma to make even the most average bar hit hard, exuding a confidence rarely seen in MCs so new to the game. Although she hasn’t quite found her sound yet, the future for Doechii is bright.
14 Snow Tha Product
Tearing up the mic in English and Spanish, it doesn’t take a translator to hear the raw talent of Snow Tha Product. She spits bars as fast as a rifle spits bullets, turning each song into a lyrical slaughter where the listener has to rewind to catch every quotable. More focussed on sound than anything else, she can be rapping about something as regular as how much money she makes, but with her high-speed flows and vicious delivery, her godlike technical ability makes it unforgettable. Crowning herself the queen of Latin rap, you would have trouble finding an MC more technically gifted in the Latin scene than Snow.
13 GloRilla
In just one year, GloRilla has risen from an unknown rookie to a Grammy-nominated superstar, and she’s deserved every bit of success. Hailing from Memphis, she raps with a swaggering bravado that could get any song on the charts, proving her hitmaking talent with head-bobbing bangers like “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and “Tomorrow 2”. She’s a master when it comes to crafting catchy hooks, but her verses hit just as hard, reciting sexually-charged bars with a Tennessee twang to her voice that makes her music instantly recognisable. GloRilla is far from a deep lyricist, and her technical ability is nothing major, but when it comes to making hits, few Southern MCs are on her level.
12 Rico Nasty
On some tracks, Rico Nasty treats the microphone like her worst enemy, screaming aggressive bars with the rage of a punk singer. Then a few songs later, she’s transformed into an R&B vocalist, singing lovestruck ballads in layers of autotune like a completely different artist has hijacked her album. That’s what makes Rico one of a kind: from aggressive rock rap cuts to electro-infused pop songs, no sound is too ambitious for her, fusing so many styles to the point you can’t label her under any one genre. Barking her lyrics or singing an elegant solo, Rico Nasty has the skill and versatility to make anything work.
11 Tierra Whack
Tierra Whack is the definition of quality over quantity. What one MC could achieve in an hour, Whack can cram into ten minutes, trimming the fat off her projects so each one is a neat package of constant highlights. From the get-go, ambitious concepts have defined her career: making her debut a collage of one-minute songs and dropping EPs tackling different genres, the Philadelphia native puts creativity first and accessibility second. But that’s not to say her tracks don’t have pop appeal – cooking up pop rap bangers with a soulful flourish, Tierra’s melodic rap vocals are too catchy not to play her songs on a loop.
10 Armani Caesar
The first lady of Griselda Records, Armani Caesar may not receive the same accolades as her labelmates, but with gritty projects like The Liz and The Liz 2 under her belt, she’s earned her place beside Westside Gunn and Benny the Butcher. Armani thrives on that grimy sound Griselda is famous for, dominating the mic with a cold-hearted delivery that fits nicely over her sinister choice of production. Boasting about her riches and describing her lavish outfits, no one makes flexing sound as menacing as Armani Caesar. Using an array of tight rhyme schemes and intricate wordplay to emphasize her wealth, she’s quickly proven herself one of Griselda’s sharpest lyricists.
9 Latto
Although her sales are high, not enough respect is put on Latto’s name. Representing the women of Atlanta, she’s a natural-born performer whose suave delivery and buttery flows make any verse a standout. Taking pride in her Southern roots, she thrives on head-bopping trap beats and funk-laced party anthems, telling tales of love and lust with a witty sense of humor to keep it entertaining. What puts Latto a tier above the competition is her tight lyrics, injecting comedic wordplay into her bars as she shoots down the haters and raps about her lavish lifestyle. Going bar for bar with trap titans like 21 Savage on 777, Latto’s lyrical prowess is getting sharper every project.
8 Cardi B
Cardi B’s rhymes are so dirty they make GloRilla and City Girls sound clean. To call her lyrics explicit would be an understatement, describing her sex life with cartoonishly extreme metaphors and enough graphic stories to give her music an R-rating. What makes Cardi so impressive isn’t just her unapologetic raunchiness, but the fact she never fails to turn her sexual tales into worldwide hits, flexing her effortless hook game on bangers like “UP” and “WAP”. She hasn’t dropped an album in half a decade, but her godlike hit-making talent has kept her in the spotlight off singles alone.
7 Jean Grae
Making a name for herself in the New York underground, Jean Grae has represented the abstract scene for decades, and her lyrical talent is only getting sharper with age. Keeping the essence of boom bap alive with an ear for jazzy, laidback beats, Jean pairs her abstract production with an unorthodox pen game, spitting lyrical puzzles full of cryptic wordplay and intricate rhyme schemes. Using her strange rhyming techniques to preach female empowerment and equality, Grae is like the modern equivalent to Queen Latifah, keeping those themes of feminism relevant with a colorful style no MC can mimic. The Queen of abstract hip hop, you won’t find many MCs as authentically creative as Jean Grae.
6 Megan Thee Stallion
If this list was about the slickest flows in the game, Megan would rank number one. Her mic presence is as smooth as the soulful beats she rhymes over, displaying a level of technical prowess no current female MC can compete with. With a range of quick flows and cadences, she moves her voice like an instrument, making even the simplest bar sound impressive thanks to her colorful delivery. Even without a pen, the Texas MC can destroy any instrumental, lighting up the studio with a set of fiery freestyles on Something for Thee Hotties. While her pop-centric production doesn’t appeal to all hip hop heads, nobody can deny that Megan is one of the most well-rounded MCs working today.
5 Nicki Minaj
Is it any surprise that Nicki Minaj ranked this high? She was one of the best female MCs a decade ago and will still be one of the best in ten years’ time. Nicki has the same longevity as any GOAT contender, reigning over the radio for a decade straight, and continuing to dominate with bangers like “Super Freaky Girl” and “Red Ruby Da Sleeze”. Where Nicki shines most is in her delivery – yelling into the microphone with a manic energy and hyperactive set of flows, her verses are as vibrant and attention-grabbing as her extravagant outfits. Balancing cutthroat ferocity with limitless pop appeal, she can murder the haters and get a crowd dancing in the same verse.
4 Rapsody
Rapsody’s last project may have been four years ago, but an elite run of features has kept her in the running for best female MC this decade. She tells stories of her inspirations and aspirations that anyone could relate to, but with a superhuman technical ability most rappers could only dream of. With complex rhyme patterns, a clever sense of wordplay and the vast vocabulary to never repeat a rhyme, delivering a great verse is as easy as breathing for the North Carolina legend. Going bar for bar with Kendrick Lamar or stealing the show from Busta Rhymes, no feat is too great for Rapsody.
3 Doja Cat
Doja Cat is a rapper who needs no introduction. Sometimes she’s like the female equivalent to Eminem, telling wild tales of tragic romance with an unpredictable energy and wicked sense of humor like she was taught directly by Shady himself. When she isn’t reciting vivid stories, Doja is making hypnotic pop rap hits, perfecting the balance between melodic hooks and hard-hitting verses to appeal to pop and rap fans alike. Displaying lightning-fast flows and enough charisma to rap for hours on end, Doja Cat has proven she’s more than just another average popstar. With news that she’s ditching pop music to make a full-on hip hop album, it won’t be long before Doja climbs even higher up the list.
2 Che Noir
Killing it in the underground for the past half decade, Che Noir is long overdue for her flowers. Take the gritty East Coast sound of the Griselda crew and the lyrical finesse of Rapsody, and Che Noir is the result. She’s far more than your average grimy MC; instead of simply bragging over a gritty boom bap beat, she flips the hardcore sound to get as personal as possible, hooking the listener with her swaggering mic presence and keeping their attention with some deeply introspective tales. Dropping six projects in just three years, her unparalleled work ethic has led to one of the most consistent runs in rap this decade. Balancing a hardcore sound with an introspective pen, Che Noir is the complete package.
1 Little Simz
Treating the studio like a stage, her albums play out like musical theater where Simz is the lead actress, reciting introspective monologues about her deepest struggles. She’s a poet when it comes to writing, never afraid to get personal as she tackles her own mental health through an array of quick-witted rhymes. Simz has a knack for turning her thoughts to words, penning some of the most vulnerable tracks in hip hop history with the clever wordplay and vivid storytelling talent to always keep it entertaining. From the witty highlights of Grey AREA to the musical therapy sessions of NO THANK YOU, Simz is unrivaled in the UK.
