Young MA joyfully declares on her party single PettyWap 2: “Accidentally I got famous, / but got rich on purpose.” Back when the New York-born, Virginia-raised rapper released her debut single Ooouuu in 2016, nobody predicted how big it would get. On the surface, it wasn’t revolutionary – a lithe, unembellished rap track full of one-liners about getting head – but there was something undeniably magnetic about MA’s assured delivery, and the way she curled her lips around the refrain. It was also perhaps the first instance of a gay female rapper going mainstream with a song about sex. The track went triple platinum; Beyoncé invited MA to perform on the Formation tour, and the Fox TV drama Empire even tried to cast her. Many thought MA would capitalise quickly on her viral fame, dropping an album within the year. Instead, she chose to bide her time.
Herstory in the Making is the eventual product of the story that began with Ooouuu – and it won’t disappoint those hoping for similarly effortless, lyrically X-rated flexes. On Smoove Kriminal, which is little more than a snarling bassline and Young MA’s deep, raspy drawl, she notes that she won’t invite any “typical” girls to have champagne for breakfast with her, and labels herself a “sexy-ass cocky individual”. Foreign is a low-riding cut that references Ooouuu; NNAN is a bouncy, finger-snapping ode to independent women.
But there’s also more to Herstory than this. The album is released on the 10-year anniversary of MA’s brother’s death, and her trauma and grief are woven through soul-inflected tracks such as No Love, Numb, and Sober Thoughts.
Her contemplative mode is most effective on Car Confessions, where she free-associates, as if narrating every thought that drifts through her mind, while she drives around Brooklyn. At a meandering 21 tracks long, the record could stand to lose some length. But the pared-back approach – the only features are New York R&B singers Max YB and Relle Bey – allows MA’s charisma and introspection to take the foreground, making this an incredibly personal debut that was worth the wait.
