MelyMel — Melony Redondo, born in Santo Domingo on 6 May 1988 — is a Dominican rapper, singer, producer and actress. She is called La Mamá del Rap because she was the first woman launched as a rapper in the Dominican Republic, and she is the most respected woman in the genre there.

Tupac at eight

She heard Tupac for the first time at eight years old, and by 1998 she had decided rap was what she was going to do. At twelve she was writing verses and working on freestyle.

Tupac and Lauryn Hill are the two she names as her heroes. She has said Kendrick Lamar is the rapper who most resembles what Tupac was doing.

Fresa

She recorded for the first time in 2005, after meeting Nico Clínico, then a member of JN3. Fresa followed in 2006, an R&B and hip hop record that got her opening for N.O.R.E. and Tony Touch.

Sensación Mermelada, the mixtape she put out in 2007, travelled further than anyone expected — it found audiences in New York and in South Africa.

Four albums and ten films

The self-titled debut came in 2011, Eva del Rap in 2014, Untese in 2015 and Dragon Queen in 2018. IDGAF, Si No Te Amara, Su Calor, Mente Daña and No One, cut with Mozart La Para, are the singles people know.

In 2019 she recorded Se Te Apagó la Luz with Ivy Queen, whom she has named as an inspiration for a specific reason: she says she recognises herself in what Ivy went through as a woman in the genre, and that she has come away with scars but stronger.

She has also appeared in ten films since 2014, among them Loca y Atrapadas, Voces de la Calle, Hermanos and La Trampa. She started studying cinema at the UASD before the music took over.

What it cost

She has been plain about the terms. Getting the level of respect she wanted was a fight; the resources were scarce and the support was limited, and what she did was dig into the movement and grow with it rather than wait for it to make room.

Billboard called her one of the most gifted lyricists in Latin rap in 2017. The Chicago Tribune put it another way: before Cardi B or Natti Natasha, there was already a woman with a strong presence in urban music, and she had been building it since 2005.