Yo-Yo (born Yolanda Whitaker August 4, 1971) is a Grammy nominated American hardcore rapper known primarily among hip hop fans and music critics during the 1990s.

Her albums were never explicitly feminist, though she earned praise from some quarters for her advocacy of female empowerment, especially sexually. She first appeared as a guest rapper on Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted album in 1990. Her critically acclaimed debut was 1991's Make Way for the Motherlode (see 1991 in music) and was followed up by the equally acclaimed Black Pearl (1992, 1992 in music). After that, just as West Coast hip hop artists like Death Row Records labelmates Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg began topping the charts, Yo-Yo's next two albums, 1993's You Better Ask Somebody and 1996's Total Control, became less and less successful, especially after Death Row began disintegrating in the middle of the decade. In 1998, she finished her fifth and final album, Ebony, but it was not released; as such, it is a highly sought-after bootleg by fans.

She appeared in the television show "Martin" alongside the cross-dressing alter ego of comedian Martin Lawrence, Sheneneh. She also made a cameo appearance in the first video from Missy Elliott.

In 1994 R&B singer Trisha Covington sampled Yo-Yo's classic "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo", and scored a Top 30 R&B hit with "Why You Wanna Play Me Out?".

In 2004, she had a voice-over role in the video game San Andreas as San Andreas#Kendl Johnson.

As of 2005, Yo-Yo is an afternoon DJ for the Los Angeles-area radio station KDAY.

Yo Yo is named after a toy, called the yo-yo, because she bounces up and down like a yo-yo when she raps.

She was also recently featured in Brooke Valentine's song Boogie Oogie along with Fabolous.

Awards & nominations

External links

• Yo-Yo biography provided by allmusic.com

1971 births | American rappers | Female rappers | Living people | Grand Theft Auto actors