During her set at the annual hip-hop and street culture festival Back To The City in April last year, the rapper Rouge said, "This year is the year of the female." She then proceeded to give one of the best performances of the whole festival. So did Assessa, Yugen Blakrok and Tyrant The Rapper, among the few other women on the line-up.

"I think I hit the nail on the head," says Rouge eight months since Back To The City when asked about the statement she made during her set. "People can fight it all they want. I made top 5 in MTV Base's Top 10 Hottest MC list, and that hasn't been done before. There were three women on that list. That hasn't happened before. Girls hitting the million views mark [on YouTube], us getting these endorsement deals and all. It was a great year for us. But we still have a long way to go."

The rapper Nadia Nakai took the 10th spot on the MTV Base list, her video for "Naaa Mean" passed the million views mark on YouTube and she was on the cover of Hype. Nadia collaborated with urban fashion retail giant Sportscene for her own range, Bragga. Most clothing brands have collaborated with male artists in the past—Loxion Kulca collaborated with Pro in the late 2000s, Nasty C collaborated with Sportscene last year, Head Honcho collaborated with AKA for the Supa Mega merchandise in 2014.