Maddy Ipema, Columbia College Chicago

Hip-hop culture needs to make female representation and diversity a priority.

Katie Sheets, University of Vermont

With her biting lyricism and hushed delivery, the former slam poet has quietly climbed the hip-hop ranks.

Christian Zeitler, Carnegie Mellon

Where other female rappers have broken into the male-dominated world of hip-hop by out-manning their competition, Noname flips the script, delivering soft, dense lines of poetry.