Hip-hop has taken over the world. You can’t go a day without hearing some form of hip-hop behind a commercial advertisement, while walking down the street, or whatever—you’re going to hear or see it. For a long time, I thought rap music was just an America thing. Yeah, when I was a young boy you couldn’t tell me there were rappers doing big things in other countries. Nah, rap/hip-hop lived in my boom box! Even then rap had expanded from NY to other parts of the US, and I sorta got that.  

But to say there was a duo in the UK? What?! Ok, some dudes are out there doing their thing. Wait, what? Not dudes – women? Say word!? Word. Now I was familiar with female emcees like Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte, and even J.J. Fad, but a female duo from the United Kingdom? Beyond my world. Yup and their name is Cookie Crew…

MC Remedee and Suzy Q know as Cookie Crew dropped their debut Born This Way back in the 80s and I won’t deny, I was kinda hesitant to listen to it now because I had never heard rappers from there. Nothing against the UK though; honestly, other countries are what’s truly keeping the culture of hip-hop alive more than the United States these days. Nevertheless, I listened to this recently and they are, in fact, pretty dope.

Of all the songs on the album, the one I liked most is title track, Born this Way. It’s a positive song and they let it be known they have skill. They dropped the album in ‘89 and had a few singles out before then, but man, the video to BTW brought back so many memories. For most of the video, they’re doing it up at a house party. The energy in that room is what I remember house parties being—like going to the gym! Then, in another scene, they’re wearing the Triple F.A.T. Goose bubble coats. Ha! Those coats are legendary.

Another song I dug is Come and Get Some. What I heard in this track, and all their music, is that these women knew hip-hop was alive and well in the UK. They seem to have been pushing their craft not only for themselves, but for their hood too. They made sure they wouldn’t be overlooked any longer, so on every track they let the listener know – We have skills over here!

If you want more material, check out some of the links provided under this write-up and what the other Muse authors had to say and see for yourself this rap gem I admittedly overlooked.