Known for her braggadocious, unapologetically sexual rhymes, Foxy Brown was among the class of empowering female MCs who redefined hip-hop for women in the mid-’90s. • The Brooklyn native didn’t take rap seriously until she won a local talent contest as a teenager. She caught the ear of the production duo Trackmasters and wound up appearing on LL Cool J’s 1995 single “I Shot Ya.” • Alongside R&B queen Mary J. Blige, she added silky vocals to Case’s 1996 hit “Touch Me, Tease Me,” which appeared on the soundtrack for Eddie Murphy’s The Nutty Professor and went Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. • She notched features on both of JAY-Z’s first two albums: Reasonable Doubt and In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Hov would return the favor by guesting on Brown’s 1996 debut, Ill NaNa. • Ill Na Na peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and went platinum by 1997. • Brown joined hip-hop supergroup The Firm alongside Nas, AZ, and Nature. Their LP The Album debuted atop the Billboard 200 in 1997. • Foxy’s 1999 sophomore album, Chyna Doll, became the just second album by a female rapper to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was first.) Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Eve would join the list years later. • Her Def Jam winning streak continued with 2001’s Broken Silence. The single “Na Na Be Like” was nominated for Best Female Rap Solo Performance at the 2003 Gramy Awards. • Nicki Minaj has credited Foxy as one of her main rap inspirations. The two collaborated on “Coco Chanel,” off Nicki’s 2018 Queen album. • Nas reunited The Firm for the first time in nearly two decades for “Full Circle,” off his 2020 King’s Disease LP.