Women’s History Month in Music
It’s Women’s History Month. Let’s talk about a female hip hop and funk group who was pivotal in these genres of the music.
What do you get when you add Angie B, Blondy and Cheryl the Pearl? Drumroll please… meet The Sequence. A trio of women from South Carolina who performed a fusion of hip hop and funk music. Angela Brown, Gwendolyn Chisolm and Cheryl Cook made up the first female group to release songs under Sugar Hill Records.
The most notable song by the group is “Funk You Up”, which came out in 1979. You may also remember the song, “Monster Jam with Spoonie Gee”. In the 90s Angela Brown aka Angie Stone later joined the music group Vertical Hold before going solo in 1999. She has also performed in theater, TV and movies.
Gwendolyn “Blondy” Chisolm and Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook released a single in 2011 titled, “On Our Way to the Movies”. The Pearl also wrote songs for the Sugar Hill Gang and scores of other artists. She went on to start her own company called Black Bottom Entertainment.
The Sequence is very important in the history of women, music and hip hop. Their first single topped the music charts for three weeks and went Gold. Other artists have sampled their music. Even though the hip hop genre is more prominent in NY, The Sequence held their own and made their mark being from the South. They have helped to lay the foundation for subsequent female hip hop groups and solo MCs, that we know and love.
The influence of The Sequence can still be felt and heard, even today. Give them their due for what they have laid down for women groups who came after them. For whatever reason, The Sequence has not been given the credit they deserve. When I think of The Sequence I think of a trio of inspiration and talent.