Angel Haze adds to year of new female rappers shaking up the game

Earlier this year, The Times wrote at length about the new crop of Femcees blazing their own trails in the wake of Nicki Minaj’s success.

Australian bombshell Iggy Azalea, former background dancer Nyemiah Supreme, Miami’s Brianna Perry and bawdy Harlem girl Azealia Banks have earned plenty of ink -- and deservedly so.

After years of dormancy, this has been a great year for Femcees, and it just got better with rising rapper Angel Haze.

The 21-year-old Brooklyn-based Detroit native needs to be on your play list if she isn’t already. Start with her latest project, “Classick,” which she dropped Thursday.

On the six-track mixtape, she spits fiery bars over famous tracks such as Missy Elliott’s “Gossip Folks,” Jay-Z’s “Song Cry,” Common’s “Love of My Life” and Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing).” Her flow is raw and brash, and it brims with effortless swagger and originality.

The standout here is the gut-wrenching “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.”

Backed by the beat from Eminem’s hit of the same title, Haze lays out the shocking narrative about being raped at 7 and the continued sexual abuse and mental turmoil that included suicidal thoughts and an eating disorder.

It’s a jarring tale and a painful listen that brims with the type of hard-knock honesty that real hip-hop is built on.

Having shined at the recent BET Hip Hop Awards in one of the night’s cyphers alongside A$AP Rocky and Childish Gambino, the Native American spitfire scored a deal with Universal Republic after her first mixtape, “Reservation,” garnered critical praise when it was released earlier this summer.

Listen and download “Classick” below (warning, there is profanity). Check out her fierce video for “Werkin Girls.” It adds to our obsession of Haze.

Follow @GerrickKennedy

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