+1: Sister Charmaine
One of the first female deejays to chat slackness on wax, Sister Charmaine was well-respected among her peers as a razor-sharp freestyle lyricist in the mid- to late-80s, famously destroying Lady G, Patra, and Lady P at Sting in 1989. At 17, her single “Glammity” hit some of the local charts in Jamaica, despite being deemed not fit for airplay. Charmaine challenged Dancehall’s ruling male deejays with tunes like “Hol A Rest,” “Community Girl,” “Hol A Kuff” and “Wake Up,” boosting her popularity among the bigger sound systems. She moved to New York in 1990, where she was crowned ‘Female DJ of the Year’ at various annual events. —Raine Martin