Hip-hop stars have immense cultural influence, especially among youth, with their lyrics and larger-than-life personas permeating mainstream media. However, beneath the bravado, do their lifestyles truly promote well-being? For this year’s list, we sought female emcees committed to walking the walk of wellness daily.
For this year’s list, we searched far beyond photo ops, seeking emcees walking the walk of wellness. Through viral videos, interviews, and our founder Samir Becic’s 30+ years of expertise, we narrowed our sights to 10 female rappers proving fitness is a lifestyle, not just for looks.
For the first time since we started our rankings a decade ago, we have incorporated a vital component: mental health. Recognizing its significant influence on overall well-being, we have taken into account the mental health aspect while crafting this prestigious list. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that 1 in 5 Americans suffers from mental health illness, making it imperative to address this crucial aspect of health.
These wordsmiths show fighting flair doesn’t have to come at the cost of wellness. Whether overcoming medical hurdles or promoting balanced nutrition, they showcase health as a daily grind.
So scroll on to meet the lyricists leading by lifestyle. This top 10 puts pedal to the pavement to prove well-rounded winning ways. Hip hop’s biggest names are redefining success with sustainability at their core. Let the rankings begin – here are the Top 10 Fittest Female Rappers 2024 list in alphabetical order:
Iggy Azalea
Fitness Routine:
- Iggy Azalea does plenty of different workouts such as sports, dancing, cardio, and weight training.
- When weight training she focuses on her lower body more than her upper body by doing workouts such as squats, deadlifts, hip thrust, and lunges.
- She also has a core workout that helps strengthen and tighten her core muscles. These workouts include in & outs, crunches, high plank, leg raises, etc.
- Iggy grew up playing tennis and still incorporates tennis days into her workout routine, this is a good form of cardio and helps improve flexibility.
Nutrition:
- Iggy’s diet consists of a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables, and lots of protein.
- She also likes to drink cold juices and water to make sure that she remains hydrated. For example, smoothies with almonds, kale, berries, bananas, etc.
- Her typical meals consist of salmon, potatoes, liver, seaweed, garlic, etc.
Mental Health Practices:
- Iggy recommends that having rest days is key to good mental and physical health.
- She enjoys spending time at home, talking on the phone with friends and family, and finding tasks to keep her mind calm such as yoga.
Cardi B
Fitness Routine:
- Cardi B’s fitness goal is to be as flexible as she was when she was younger.
- Her routine to achieve this is working out for 2 hours and stretching for 1 hour a day.
- The workouts consist of weighted squats, ropes, pull-ups, high knees, etc.
Nutrition:
- Cardi B’s old diet used to be mainly foods such as wings, fries, pizza, etc.
- Now Cardi says she has begun focusing on changing her diet to healthier options such as eggs whites, chicken, vegetables, salmon, and fruits.
- Cardi says the majority of her diet is now healthier but she still allows herself to have fast food and her cravings every once in a while.
Mental Health Practices:
- Cardi B has dealt with lots of hate on the internet regarding her previous life which she says took a toll on her mental health for a while, she says that getting off of the internet and taking time to yourself is a start to clearing your mind.
Doja Cat
Fitness Routine:
- Doja Cat’s workout routine consists of lots of cardio and toning workouts such as running and cycling that helps prepare her for performances.
- Her daily workouts consist of weightlifting, bench press, donkey kicks, plank holds, leg curls, and dancing.
Nutrition:
- Doja Cat began to avoid alcohol and junk foods and started focusing on healthier meals.
- Now her diet ranges from salmon, chicken, steak, vegetables, and fruits.
- Doja Cat also drinks juices that contain lots of nutrients to help contribute to her workouts such as greens and fruit juices.
Mental Health Practices:
- Doja Cat fans have grown concerned over her shaved head and eyebrows claiming that it is an act of mental illness. Doja Cat says that she is perfectly fine and happy and says that she just does not like having hair and that there is nothing to worry about.
Missy Elliot
Fitness Routine:
- Missy Elliot has dropped 66 lbs going from 196 lbs to 130 lbs, while her recent diagnosis of Graves disease may have contributed to her weight loss, Missy also changed her lifestyle choices such her workouts and diet.
- Missy began following a workout routine that focuses on cardio, circuit and weight training.
- Majority of her workouts aim to build a strong core, toning up the body, and building muscle.
- She also likes to always keep her body moving besides the workouts she does activities such as hiking and dancing which helps burn calories.
Nutrition:
- Missy also changed her eating habits to healthy options, started eating in portions, and cut out foods with alot of carbs and sugars.
- Now her diet consists of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains.
- This new diet helps her control her calories and also helps maintain a fast metabolism.
Mental Health Practices:
- Missy has been open about her mental health struggles and says that what helps her is keeping people around that she knows motivates her and pushes her in life, she believes that this is a good way to keep yourself and others going.
Latto
Fitness Routine:
- While Latto admits to having surgery done to her body, she says that she still has hired a personal trainer to keep her healthy and in shape.
- Latto focuses on dancing which helps her practice and train for performances while also burning calories and getting a workout in.
- Her workouts begin with stretching and weighted workouts.
- Latto’s upper body workouts consist of bicep curls, push-ups, dumbbells, etc. While her lower body workouts contain lunges, leg curls, squats, etc.
Nutrition:
- Latto’s diet is focused on counting calories and detoxing.
- Latto recently says that keeping count of the calories she consumes has helped her reach her fitness goals easily.
- Latto also began to detox her body with juices to help move out all waste from her body which has contributed to her weight loss.
Mental Health Practices:
- Latto says that keeping her family and friends close and maintaining a relationship with God gets her through the days that aren’t so easy.
Coi Leray
Fitness Routine:
- Coi Leray does weight training, boxing, and cardio.
- As seen on her social media she focuses more on her lower body workouts, she says that she grew up skinny so that her main goal now is to tone up and gain weight in the right places.
- She begins workouts with cardio such as stairmaster or treadmill and finishes off with a HIIT workout.
- Her workouts are rotated every day Monday through Friday, during these days she targets her arms, core, and legs.
Nutrition:
- Coi Leray says since she has a fast metabolism she usually eats what she wants but she has begun focusing on a better diet to keep her healthy internally also.
- Now she eats fruits, vegetables, brown rice, grilled chicken, etc.
- She also replaced her usual snacks with fruits and salads.
Mental Health Practices:
- Coi has opened up about the anxiety and body shaming she deals with since she has been in the music industry, she says that talking to herself such as waking up and saying “I love myself and my body” helps her feel better day by day.
Megan Thee Stallion
Fitness Routine:
- Megan trains with her personal trainer Timothy Boutte.
- Her workouts are very diverse which helps work on different parts of the body. Megan does workouts such as cardio, weight training, HIIT, yoga, pilates, boxing and pole dancing.
- The workout routine she follows focuses on mainly lower body areas which consist of mountain climbers, squats, deadlifts, forward lunges, etc.
- Megan does yoga everyday and pilates every 3-4 days, these help her build up core strength and flexibility.
Nutrition:
- Megan Thee Stallion admits that she used to eat lots of junk food in the past but has been working towards maintaining a better diet.
- Now Megan’s diet consists of more protein, smoothies, vegetables, and fruits.
- Instead of drinking sugary drinks she began drinking a gallon of water a day.
Mental Health Practices:
- Megan’s biggests tip to maintaining stress is to take a day off and rest.
- When dealing with anxiety and stress Megan likes to sleep in, watch her favorite show, and enjoy time with friends and family.
Nicki Minaj
Fitness Routine:
- As in shape as Nicki is she claims that she does not work out because it will change the curvy figure that she already has.
- Instead, when she feels that she needs to lose weight she prefers to just change her diet by cutting out carbs and sugars which she says usually helps her the most.
Nutrition:
- Nicki focuses on having a healthy diet since she does not workout.
- She eats lots of fruits, vegetables, protein and completely cuts sugar from her diet.
Mental Health Practices:
- Nicki says that most of her anxiety comes from always feeling that as a female rapper that people are constantly judging.
- She says she handles her stress and anxiety by getting off of her phone and away from social media instantly clears her mind.
Saweetie
Fitness Routine:
- Saweetie enjoys doing cardio, pilates, and weightlifting as a form of exercise.
- To help prepare her for performances she does heavy cardio such as running uphill outdoors, dancing, jump roping, etc.
- She also enjoys weight training mainly her core and legs by doing sit ups, squats, ropes, leg presses, etc.
Nutrition:
- Saweetie says she used to enjoy eating lots of sweets and fried foods but now her diet has changed to the Mediterranean diet.
- The Mediterranean diet consists of whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables.
- Saweetie enjoys cooking for herself rather than buying processed foods.
Mental Health Practices:
- Saweetie says that meditating every morning helps her feel more grounded and at peace.
Ice Spice
Fitness Routine:
- Ice Spice workout routine ranges from weight training, yoga, and pilates.
- She begins her workouts with cardio workouts such as jumping jacks, toe taps, froggy jumps, etc.
- Her weight training and core exercises help maintain a toned body and strong core, these workouts vary from sit-ups, bear crawls, crab walks, arm presses, and swiss ball crutches.
- Ice Spice’s main workouts are switched between pilates and yoga, she does these daily and switches in between the workouts so that she consistently targets different areas of the body.
Nutrition:
- Ice Spice says that she prefers home cooked meals rather than going out to eat or processed foods.
- She says that she does not follow a specific diet, she just made changes in what she does and does not eat for example she cut all sugary drinks and foods and focuses on eating
Mental Health Practices:
- Ice Spice does pilates to not only workout but also as a form of reducing stress and clearing her mind.
- She also uses yoga to help deal with her anxiety.
