The veteran rapper tells ESSENCE.com that when it comes to mainstream hip-hop, she’s definitely rooting for Nicki Minaj.
“She’s on the front line right now and rightfully so,” said Lyte. “To me, she’s very strategically placed herself where I imagine she saw herself many years ago. She’s a savvy businesswoman. [She] may not align with all the things we expect of a female emcee, but to me she’s spawned from Missy Elliot.”
Lyte added that she meets plenty of talented, but unsigned, female emcees through her Hip-Hop Sisters Network, a foundation and social network she started to nurture women in hip-hop.
So what does she think is Nicki Minaj’s key to success? “We’ve got an African-American female emcee that encompasses pop, hip-hop, she’s all of them. When I think of today’s emcees, I think of her.”
