Since then, Dej Loaf has become a refreshingly chameleonic presence in hip-hop, slithering through songs about mean-mugging and songs about sweet loving. “I might catch a body,” she sing-rapped, and it swung like a do-si-so. Her breakthrough single, “ Try Me,” which was released last year, sounded like getting threatened by a particularly needling child.
Dej Loaf, from Detroit, has a child’s voice, round and small and not yet firm. Minaj in that category, but this was the first year when there was even a credible contender for runner-up. During her acceptance speech this year, she acknowledged her fellow nominees, but focused on one newcomer, Dej Loaf, saying, “You’ve been very, very interesting to me, and super, super forward.”
She is indisputably great, and in this particular arena, indisputably alone. Simply to be heard, it can take exceptional gifts, like those possessed by Ms. Every year since 2010 at the BET Awards, Nicki Minaj has been named best female hip-hop artist because, well, let’s just say hip-hop has long been inhospitable to female talent in all its varieties.