Hear Untold Tales of the Women Who Helped Create Hip-Hop

Clover Hope’s essential new book, The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop, doesn’t just tell the stories of the women who helped shape hip-hop, from the pioneering MC Sha-Rock to Cardi B. It also ends up telling the entire story of the genre through a brand-new lens.

In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Hope joins host Brian Hiatt to discuss some of the best tales from the book, with an emphasis on pre-2000s rappers, from Mercedes Girls to Salt-N-Pepa, from MC Lyte to Foxy Brown and Lil Kim.

To hear the entire episode, press play above, or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.

Download and subscribe to our weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on iTunes or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts), and check out three years’ worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth, career-spanning interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Halsey, Neil Young, Alicia Keys, Phoebe Bridgers, the National, Ice Cube, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle,  Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, Gary Clark Jr., and many more — plus dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone’s critics and reporters. Tune in every Friday at 1 p.m. ET to hear Rolling Stone Music Now broadcast on SiriusXM’s Volume, channel 106.