Yo-Yo Jacket

Rapper Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker made her debut on Ice Cube’s 1990 track “It’s a Man’s World,” going toe to toe with her mentor in a lyrical battle of the sexes and taking female empowerment in rap lyrics to a new level. Yo-Yo wore this jacket in the music video for “You Can’t Play with My Yo-Yo,” which in turn featured Ice Cube. An advocate for women rap artists, Yo-Yo founded the Intelligent Black Women’s Coalition, an organization committed to the education of young Black women. “I don’t think we have enough female leaders. ...I take it as my responsibility to be a leader with my rap career,” Yo-Yo said. “Although people take rap too seriously, analyze it too much – they don’t just take it as art. I try to speak to the ladies. But in general, I hate for rap to be analyzed because instead of putting the blame where it should be, they put the blame on us.”