Foxy Brown

The teen born Inga Marchand came out the box name-dropping Gucci, Armani, and Versace labels and wouldn't stop. The Afro-Trinidadian spitfire from Brooklyn and popped on Jay-Z's "Ain't No Nigga" with Dolce & Gabbana, Henri Bendel, and Armani again falling from her lips. But beyond her repetitive high-fashion references, Foxy's couplets were full of complexity beyond her years. Plus, her trademark black lipstick and seductive looks jibed perfectly with new cinematic rap video lensemen, like Hype Williams and Little X. How you looked was beginning to become just as important or more than how you rhymed. Def Jam dropped Foxy Brown's Ill Na Na in November 1996, just seven days after Lil' Kim's Hard Core. Both sold millions, adding new classics, like "No Time," "Big Momma Thang," and "I'll Be," to the lexicon of women's rap.