Hip-Hop has lost some of its most trailblazing female artists in recent years. From the rough IDGAF bars of Bo$$ to Memphis legend Gangsta Boo to Nuyorican fire spitter Hurricane G, I’ve felt each one of these deaths personally. I live in a country with a long history of not recognizing or respecting the contributions of women to the culture, and whether I like it or not rappers and rap fans alike can be incredibly chauvinistic and patronizing. If you’re reading this and have to say “But Flash, I’m not like that” then you’re already aware of the prevailing attitude where “bitch” and ho” have been acceptable pseudonyms for women since before Todd Shaw’s first record. Growing up I constantly heard and read ridiculous arguments that “I can’t listen to a woman rap” because they weren’t HARD enough.

Long before MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and Roxanne Shanté proved how absurd such misogynistic misgivings about female emcees were, The Sequence had already FUNKED UP the rap world. Gwendolyn Chisolm a/k/a Blondie (“hey that’s me”), Cheryl Cook a/k/a Cheryl the Pearl (“I’m guaranteed to throw down”) and Angela Stone a/k/a Angie B. (“I can rock you so dangerously”) were the first female rap group signed to Sugar Hill Records and unless someone can prove otherwise the first signed to a label PERIOD. That’s not to say there weren’t other female rappers in the late 1970’s or early 80’s when The Sequence rose to prominence (such as the legend Sha-Rock) but an entire group was unique then and arguably still is today. Their party rap songs were very of the time but the nature of their act was well ahead of the times and lasted all the way until 1985.

Angie Stone didn’t leave the entertainment world when her rap group broke up — far from it. She continue to work throughout the 80’s and 90’s, becoming the lead vocalist of Vertical Hold and a member of Devox before finally reaching her peak as a soloist with “Black Diamond” in 1999 on Arista Records. Even if you were a staunch rap fan you couldn’t turn on your local FM radio station “where hip-hop lives” and not hear the song “No More Rain” at some point. She went from pioneering rap artist to bonafide R&B superstar with this chart topping song.

Even though it may have been the peak for her musically, it was far from her peak in entertainment as a whole. Angie Stone continued to release albums throughout the 2000’s, and her track with Snoop Dogg “I Wanna Thank Ya” stands out as a personal favorite of mine. She also went on to star in film and television with prominent roles in The Fighting Temptations and The Hot Chick and appearances on Moesha, Girlfriends and Lincoln Heights. I’ll be honest that in some respects I just took it for granted that Angie Stone was always going to be around doing something. It just felt like she always was.

Unfortunately when you make assumptions like that, life has a way of throwing a curveball at you that you didn’t expect. Stone unexpectedly passed away on March 1st after the car she was in heading from Montgomery to Atlanta flipped over and was subsequently struck by an 18-wheeler. She was on tour at the time and it was members of her band who confirmed the details of the accident. She had a son with D’Angelo named Michael as well as a daughter named Diamond (who her 1999 album was named after) and I grieve for both of them. My condolences to her extended family as well as all of her peers in the music world who knew and worked with her, and to her millions of fans around the globe. Gone but never forgotten, rest in peace Angela, your work will live on.