Future Women's History Month: Young M.A's Necessary Voice for Hip-Hop

Fuse is celebrating Women's History Month by looking at a variety of rising forces who are creating Future Women's History before our eyes. At a time where two of the biggest female rap stars to ever do it are beefing, Young M.A has been a quieter-yet-majorly-important force making change all on her own.

Breakout hit "Ooouuu" brought the Brooklyn MC mainstream attention with the laid-back trap cut being a slick, queer-leaning anthem—a necessary and significant step in the still very-much homophobic hip-hop world. While there are gay rappers, none have seen success like Young M.A ("Ooouuu was a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 while hitting Top 5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart), much less when their sexual preferences are mentioned on the song. 

Yet Young M.A's sexuality was not the forefront of the record, nor even a major part of "Ooouuu," but instead was seamlessly baked into the single just like any other rap track. Not only that, the success brought yet another necessary female voice to the male-dominated, mainstream rap game.