She was sexually free and did not give a damn about what you thought. She was brutally honest about what she wanted from a man. She was also a representation of a deviation in female rap. She was Lil Kim. Lil Kim was one of the first female emcees who rapped about sex. Her ammo was unlike her predecessors, whose choices of topics were woman’s rights, ending sexism and equality between the sexes. Sure all of those topics were meaningful but none of them packed the punch that rapping about oral sex could. Lil Kim dressed like sex, rapped about sex, and represented a new breed of women. The sexually free woman, who was self aware, knew what she wanted from a man and how to get it. Soon after less lyrically raunchy MC’s like Queen Latifah, and MC Lyte faded from our memories and they were replaced with an album cover of a petite chick with her ass in the air. Lil Kim became a guilty pleasure for many.
Much like her mentor Biggie, she too was a rap phenomenon. However not everyone was impressed with her image. Some were appalled at such vulgar lyrics. Sure it was accepted for a man to rap about sex but then it was not as accepted for a woman. True indeed she was the first of her kind. Since her appearance Lil Kim has inspired a new breed of female rappers whose main topic of discussion is you guessed it. Sex, money and more sex.
Lil Kim’s existence paved the way for other female emcees like Trina, Jackie O, Khia, Diamond and the now ever popular Nicki Minaj who some say has taken Lil Kim’s identity and manufactured her own.
Lil Kim’s entrance in the rap world is something of a double edged sword. Sure we can appreciate a woman’s rights to express herself freely and to rap about her sexual desires, and how much men love to spend their last dime on her. To some degree it is complimentary. Every woman fantasizes about being the most wanted, baddest chick on the scene. Through Lil Kim we could live out that fantasy. Even if it was just for the duration of a 3 minute song.
On the other hand, with this new found sexual liberty came a fixation on a woman’s vagina, and what it could do and how much better it was than the next chick’s. If you listen to the female MC’s today, I guarantee you that this will be the primary focus of much of their lyrics. It is to the point now that when you listen to their music the question of “wait a minute, is sex all they are going to rap about?” comes to mind. What was once liberating is now degrading. They have went to an extreme where the female MC must embody sex and nothing else.
What happen to the balance?
What happen to the discussion of something more than vagina power? Every female rapper’s persona does not have to include her rapping about “U-N-I-T-Y” a’ la Queen Latifah. However, it also does not always have to refer back to her sexuality either. Where is the balance in female rap? It is to the point that if I want to listen to a female MC and support her album then I have to prepare myself for a gang of vagina references, discussion of how much men love her, and let me not forget her braggadocios banters about her designer clothing and lifestyle. Is that all that female MC’s have to offer? Are they not more complex than that? Even in this male dominated rap world there are some MC’ s that rap about more than guns, weed, selling dope and banging chicks. Why can we not find the same level of diversity within female rap?
Female rap is conflicted. Sure, I can appreciate a woman taking charge of her own sexuality, being the aggressor in her life in and out of the bedroom, and letting the world know that she is a bad chick. In doing so does she have to dumb herself down to a walking, talking, rapping vagina? The female MC’s that do rap about a variety of more relatable topics do not get as much shine. For instance, MC’s like Rah Digga and Jean Grae albums always seem to get shelved. What is a female Hip Hop fan like myself to do when she craves to hear Rap from a female perspective?
[...] On the other hand, with this new found sexual liberty came a fixation on a woman’s vagina, and what it could do and how much better it was than the chick next to her vagina. If you listen to the female MC’s today, I guarantee you that this will be the primary focus of much of their lyrics. It is to the point now that when you listen to their music the question of “wait a minute, is sex all they are going to rap about?” comes to mind. What was once liberating is now degrading. They have went to an extreme where the female MC must embody sex and nothing else…. To Read The Rest Visit YeahSheSaidIt [...]