Producer and songwriter Sylvia Robinson records “Pillow Talk,” after Al Green deems it “too sexy” for him. It shoots to the top of the Billboard charts and ushers in a new wave of music made by black women.

The hip-hop group Funky 4 + 1 is formed, with female MC Sha-Rock as the lead; she’s the first femcee to record with an all-male group, and the first to fight it out in MC battles with legends like Grandmaster Flash and Furious 5. In 1979, Funky 4 + 1 becomes the first rap group signed to a label.

Sylvia Robinson produces and co-authors the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” the world’s first commercial rap single, and the first to make the Billboard Top 40.

The hip-hop trio U.T.F.O. releases a single called “Roxanne, Roxanne,” about a woman who wouldn’t respond to their advances. Nolita Goodman records a dissenting record under her middle name, Roxanne. “Roxanne’s Revenge” began a rap rivalry between the artists now remembered as “Roxanne’s War,” propelled Roxanne Shante (Goodman’s MC name) to fame, and prompted hundreds of “answer records.”

Cheryl “Salt” Jones and Sandy “Pepa” Denton record a song with a friend called “The Show Stopper.” The single debuts big on underground charts and at No. 47 on the R&B charts. Two years later, a San Francisco DJ remixes a single from Salt-N-Pepa's debut album, Hot, Cool & Vicious. The song, “Push It,” climbs to No. 19 on the pop charts.

A 13-year old Lauryn Hill debuts at the Apollo Theatre.

N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton is released, introducing a new type of hip-hop: “gangsta rap.”

Queen Latifah’s debut album, All Hail to the Queen, sells more than 1 million copies.

TLC releases its first album, Ooooooohhh, which debuts at no. 3 on the R&B charts and at no. 14 on the pop charts. The trio quickly becomes known for their sex-positive, unapologetic sound.

Lil’ Kim debuts as a solo artist with the album Hard Core, debuting at No. 11 on the pop charts. Her lyrics, much more gritty and risque than those of other femcees, define her as a sexually liberated (and explicit) new artist.

Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Prakazrel “Phas” Michel, performing as The Fugees, release their second album, The Score. Their remake of “Killing Me Softly,” with Hill’s haunting vocals, becomes a hit. The album sells 17 million copies and earns the group two Grammy awards.

Missy Elliot releases her debut album, Supa Dupa Fly. The album goes platinum and Elliot is named rap artist of the year by Rolling Stone. Her next two albums, Da Real World and Under Construction, go platinum too.

Following the highly publicized murders of Biggie Smalls and 2Pac Shakur the year before, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs releases his debut album, No Way Out, proving gangsta rap to be a part of the pop mainstream.

Lauryn Hill releases a solo effort, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. She wins five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist.

Hip-hop continues its pivot toward gangsta rap — and the rappers who gains the most attention are men. Artists like Nelly, 50 Cent, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg grow in popularity, marketed toward young, male audiences.

Lauryn Hill returns from a self-imposed hiatus, releasing a two-hour live recording of her performance on MTV Unplugged, MTV Unplugged No. 2.0. It is met with lackluster reviews and sales, and she stops performing again.

Salt-N-Pepa breaks up, having sold more than 12 million records worldwide.

After attempting a solo career, TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes is killed in a car crash while filming a documentary in Honduras.

The Grammys add a Best Female Rap Solo Performance category — and drop it after two years, due to a lack of nominees. (Missy Elliott wins twice.)

The rapper Diamond, with the backing of her crew Crime Mob, goes platinum with the release of “Knuck If You Buck” — when she’s only 14 years old. She goes solo in 2007, and, following her first two singles, she is nominated for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist of the Year at the BET Awards in 2011 and 2012. She joins the Sisterhood of Hip Hop in 2014.

Lil’ Kim reports to jail, convicted of perjury and conspiracy in connection with a 2001 shooting outside of a New York radio station. She releases her fourth album, The Naked Truth, as she begins her sentence.

Audra the Rapper releases her first mixtape, “Sweet and Sour,” at the age of 16, which she sells in neighborhood malls and car washes. She eventually releases three other projects, including her first EP, Retrospectum, in 2015. She will release her next project, Anti Love Songs, summer 2016.

Nicki Minaj releases her first album, Pink Friday, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It’s the first record by a femcee to go platinum in eight years. Her success propels other female artists, like M.I.A., Erykah Badu, and Azealia Banks, to the mainstream, but femcees still don’t have the success they once did. “If you want to hear a female MC, you've got to kind of mine the underground,” says Ava DuVernay, on the release of a documentary about women in hip-hop.

Meek Mill signs Lee Mazin to his record label, Dreamchasers, after her two consecutive wins for Female Artist of the Year at the Philadelphia Hip-Hop Awards. She’s designated as the “First Lady” of Dreamchasers, and soon emerges as an independent recording artist, playing alongside Young Jeezy, T.I, DMX, and more. She will release “No Love Lost II” summer 2016.

Femcees are still mostly underground stars, but stars nonetheless: the most buzzed-about femcees include Siya, Brianna Perry, Rapsody, Tiffany Fox, Jean Grae, Lizzo, K. Flay, and Kilo Kish.