Hurricane G Deserves To Be Seen As A Feminine Rap Pioneer
Screengrab through YouTube
Hurricane G ought to be acknowledged among the many greatest feminine rappers to ever exist, in addition to a few of rap’s different underrated however nice MCs, too.
On November 6, 2022, information broke of the premature dying of Gloria “Hurricane G” Rodriguez. The reason for dying was unknown till her daughter, Lexus Sermon, shared a tribute to her mom on Facebook, revealing that the rapper succumbed to her battle with stage 4 lung most cancers on the age of 52. The underrated hip-hop determine is greatest identified for her lyricism and skill to bilingually spit daggers as one of many first Afro-latina rappers within the style throughout her rise within the early ‘90s. She freestyled alongside different feminine up-and-comers who have been equally acknowledged for his or her battle raps on the time like Rah Digga and Bahmadia, and finally discovered her personal lane within the New York Metropolis music scene.
G first gained consideration as the primary feminine member of the rap group Def Squad (initially Hit Squad, which disbanded in a while on account of inside battle) that included Redman, Keith Murray, Ok-Solo, and Erick Sermon. The group typically featured one another on tracks and mixtapes, with G popping up on a few of them, most notably Redman’s 1992 hit “Tonight’s Da Evening.” In typical New York vogue, G instigates Redman to “get the fuck off that punk clean shit, man. Get with the tough shit man, you know the way we do.” G’s split-second cameo is a testomony to how distinct her voice was, her sticky Nuyorican accent stealing the intro to the beloved Redman monitor.
Hurricane G was additionally featured on “We Run N.Y.,” a standout monitor from Redman’s 1994 album Dare Is A Darkside. In it, her off tempo rhymes and stretched accented vowels shine as she lays down a seemingly never-ending verse. However the unsung hero of all of it is how she accents the phrase “now” towards the tip of the verse, punctuating it in a artistic manner that enables her to catch her breath and begin her circulation over once more, ending all of it with this very memorable line: “swing it over right here on these large ass tits.” It’s a line that highlights how G was one of many first girls within the recreation to cross the boundary of proudly owning her female sexuality in a male-dominated style.
As Hurricane continued to rise as a rapper, she was supplied an increasing number of profitable alternatives, like being featured on “Just Maintain” and “Birds Eye View” from Xzibit’s 1996 debut album At The Pace of Life. Out of the 2, it’s the previous that stands out most, with G providing a verse that mirrors Xzibit’s personal directed at rappers who’re solely in it for fame and glory. Her voice provides a welcome pause from the growling of her male counterparts, as she serves humility and unrelenting confidence in a couple of quick seconds. The music peaks throughout her closing verse, the place she flawlessly falls off the beat to speak her shit, solely to leap proper again on with out lacking her cue:
Imitating Hurricane’s circulation for riches,
you don’t know the half, I obtained the sick vocab,
Doobie rap model, gettin’ bucked,
extra freaky than your final good fuck,
milking you want ba ba items,
meetin’ ni**as lyrical needs.
One other profitable alternative G obtained as she rose was attending to work with one of many trade’s heavy hitters of the time — Diddy. Forward of the discharge of his second album Without end (1999), Diddy shared its lead single “P.E. 2000,” which featured G. Though she’s basically relegated to Diddy’s hype-person on the monitor (just like her intro on “Tonight’s Da Evening”), it’s fascinating to notice that she’s really listed as a characteristic on the monitor (which wasn’t the case for her appearances on “We Run N.Y.,” “Tonight’s Da Evening,” ”Simply Preserve,” and “Hen’s Eye View”). It was a pleasant search for a feminine rapper, with the collaboration blossoming into one other alternative the place G was really capable of showcase her lyrical prowess alongside Diddy.
This chance got here within the type of a Spanish remix of “P.E. 2000,” the place G was capable of stretch her bilingual legs and supply a spoken phrase supply within the monitor’s starting and ending in Spanish. Since its earliest beginnings, rap as a style has included Black rappers and Latinx rappers alike. But it surely wasn’t too widespread to see mainstream artists dropping dual-language collaborations, which has develop into extra outstanding over time. That is what makes the “P.E. 2000” remix so fascinating, with the monitor additionally having Diddy rap solely in Spanish.
Though G was primarily identified for her appearances on different rappers’ work, her solo materials was simply as essential. In September 1997, she launched her first (and final) solo album All Girl by way of the New York-based label H.O.L.A. (Residence of Latino Artists) Recordings, which had delayed the album. In an interview achieved across the time of the venture’s launch, G spoke on the delay and attributed it to “Politics, private stuff…it simply wasn’t my time,” earlier than going to take a small dig on the label: “They only couldn’t entrance on top-of-the-line females…they knew they they’d one thing good, generally I feel they overlook. However hopefully the album I obtained remains to be gonna be the bomb because of the followers and the love I obtained.”
Due to an absence of promotion for the album from H.O.L.A., All Girl didn’t find yourself getting the popularity it deserved. Nonetheless, the album has a few of G’s greatest work, particularly in its singles: “El Barrio,” “Underground Lockdown,” and “Any person Else,” which made it to the Billboard High 10 Scorching Rap Singles listing. Even now, it’s straightforward to grasp why “Any person Else” grew to become a success. The lyrics and circulation are timeless, resembling a lot of what girls take pleasure in listening to from feminine rappers immediately, as G reclaims her energy from a relationship that’s taking greater than it’s giving. Total, the album completely encapsulated Hurricane’s skill to hone in on her nice rapping skill and deal with themes of womanhood, motherhood, heartbreak, and the survival expertise wanted to develop up on the streets of New York within the ‘80s and ‘90s. It additionally allowed her to start exploring sounds outdoors of the tougher beats she’d contributed to up till then, as is clear with “Intro,” the place G performs with the sounds of an precise hurricane and fuses that into an indigenous beat and chant, earlier than closing the music with a prayer.
But when there’s any music that actually embodies simply how good of an MC Hurricane was, it needs to be the fan-favorite “Milky.” An unreleased deep minimize that was first heard on 89.9 WKCR-FM’s The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Present (to this present day, discovering a clear rip or model with no hiss continues to be a problem), “Milky” discovered Hurricane providing an amusing freestyle that not solely confirmed her niceness, however simply how a lot enjoyable she had rapping. From bars like “once I catch a dummy, I will get cash honey” and “the primary feminine to freak the funk, and dissin’ chumps with a bit gown and excessive heel pumps” to “I’m livin’ like Thanksgivin’ and chillin’, by no means will the ever almighty cease jinglin’, the earrings I put on are referred to as bangles shinin’ dangle do the mash potato tango,” it’s clear that rapping was a joyful act for G.
As folks proceed to find her music amid her passing, they’ll see how Hurricane G’s distinct circulation, lyricism, and uncooked expertise outlined her legacy as a rapper. She opened doorways for different Latinx, feminine, and bilingual rappers, and confirmed that she deserves to not solely be included among the many greatest feminine rappers to ever exist, however amongst a number of the style’s different underrated however nice MCs, too.
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Rosy Alvarez is a contract author with bylines in Remezcla, We Are Mitú, Latino Rebels, and extra. Observe her work, adventures, and day-to-day nonsense at @aroseinbklyn.