The Evolution of Shawntae Harris (excerpt)

....By the early 1990s, most female rappers had been pushed to the peripheries of the hip-hop scene. They were dispossessed of their stature by "Rump Shakers" and "Video Vixens". The powers that be decided that a woman’s place in the industry was to move her body, not moving units.

By this time, the last (and arguably the first) legitimate Hip Hop divas, Salt-n-Pepa were transitioning to a Hip Hop version of the female R&B group En Vogue. However, SnP’s star would ultimately fade due to the demands of motherhood and various internal machinations that have plagued most successful groups. After Salt-n-Pepa's release of "Very Necessary" in 1993, they went on a long four long year hiatus. Sitting idle for that long while styles and tastes change is career suicide in the disposable world of hiphoprisy.

It now appeared that female rappers were all but a footnote in history. Then without warning, the most formidable female rapper since M.C. Lyte blew into Atlanta, GA of all places - the newly emerging music capitol of the South. Even more unlikely was the fact that she hailed from Chicago. Before Common gained superstar status much later on, "Chi-Town" had yet to produce any significant male or female rap artist.

Da Brat nee Shawntae Harris emerged on Hip Hop’s landscape in 1994 under the auspices of future “Super Producer” Jermaine Dupri. As with many female performers starting out, he put her in a backup role to a male artist. She would make her first outings packaged as a second fiddle persona to the popular duo Kriss Kross. Even in this supporting role, it was not difficult to see that she was the "Leading Lady".

Because of the youthful and rebellious demeanor of the two krossed out Krisses, young Shawntae was also saddled with a fittingly adolescent moniker. She most artfully adapted to the role of "Da Brat". She was first marketed as if she was Kriss Kross' impish tomboy of a little cousin. In reality, she was already a twenty year old woman at the time of her debut album.

The choice of this youthful moniker was probably borne out of Dupri’s sense of hip-hop history. He was savvy with regards to the business longevity of previous female artist’s careers. It was clear that most hip-hop femme fatales had embodied a disposable novelty-like status.

In the beginning Dupri may have been unaware of the strong desire, tenacity, confidence and acumen young Shawntae possessed. Yet it wouldn't take long for him to realize that her desire was as genuine and fierce as any of her male counterparts. Simply put, she was “the Shit” and she knew it....