She Shreds lists 7 early black female musicians - mostly guitarists and bassists, one vocalist - "who pioneered the path for music as we know it today". They are:

Mamie Smith (1891–1946) - made the Blues a national sensation in 1920

Elizabeth Cotten (1893-1987) - The Mother of Folk

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915 – 1973) - invented and pioneered the sounds of Rock ‘n’ Roll

Sylvia Robinson (1935 – 2011) - The Mother of Hip Hop

Beverly “Guitar” Watkins (1939 – 2019) - one of the first women to be recognized as a lead blues guitarist

Lady Bo aka Peggy Jones (1940 – 2015) - played a key role in the transition of Blues to Rock ‘n’ Roll

Barbara Lynn (1942 – present) - Mother of R&B Guitar

The woman from the Dirty Dancing song teams up with a mobster and a kid from a pizza parlor to - by a combination of timing, luck, forethought, and stolen lyrics - start a revolution - Complex says about Sylvia Robinson, their choice of the best hip-hop producer od 1979. The best in 2019 - Madlib, for creating soulful, era-spanning beats. In-between the two - Kanye West, Dr. Dre, The Neptunes...