Da Brat Rhymes on Big Sean’s Blessings and ABSOLUTELY SMASHES IT (Audio)

MC Lyte. Queen Latifah. Lauryn Hill. Missy. Those names are often mentioned in the discussion of great MCs who happen to be women, but now-a-days people act like they forgot about Da Brat…The first lady of So So Def Records was actually the first solo female rapper to have an album be certified platinum, for sales of a million copies (Salt-N-Pepa were the first women rappers to achieve the sales mark). Despite her success, however, Da Brat’s name is mentioned far less frequently than those of her peers.

As the beneficiary of first class tracks and tutelage from one of music’s most enduring producers in Jermaine Dupri, perhaps people attributed too great a portion of Brat’s success to his influence. And, while the beats she was given always lived up to the name of her record label home, the driving elements in every Brat song were that penetrating voice and those vicious rhymes.

Da Brat served up a powerful reminder of her mic skills last year when she jumped on Iggy Azalea’s mega-hit, “Fancy,” and owned it. This year, to show that triumphant return was no fluke, she appends a verse to “Blessings,” Big Sean’s heavy rotation collaboration with Drake and Kanye West, and ABSOLUTELY DESTROYS it. Check out “Blessed.”

Will we have to wait for next year’s breakout song to get another killer verse from Da Brat?

Related: It’s Ladies Night with Lil Kim, Missy, Da Brat & Lady of Rage at The Soul Train Awards (Video)