![]() Kim was the standout member of Junior M.A.F.I.A., a collective of local rappers mentored by Biggie, and exuded a natural star quality in the group of guys. “He threw the negatives on the table and pointed to the one with my legs open and said, ‘That’s the one right there,’” she said to XXL. He selected the photo that solidified Kim as rap’s sex kitten. He coached her on the mechanics of rap, teaching her about how to control her flow and cadence, and encouraged her to use a softer, more feminine voice. He became her great love and masterminded her career. They thought it was hot!” she remembered of her verse. “As far as the neighborhood, they thought it was fly. But after that I rebelled.” By fourteen, Kim left the house and men became her lifeline as a means of survival and self-worth.Īt seventeen, she met The Notorious B.I.G. “If he hadn’t said what he said to me, I probably would have stayed a virgin until I was twenty-one. ![]() One incident in particular was the turning point in how she would frame her self-image in adulthood: He called her a “bitch” and “whore” for liking a boy when she was thirteen. ![]() Eventually, she returned to Brooklyn to live with her volatile father, whom she described as violent and verbally abusive. Following her parents’ divorce, she moved to an all-white neighborhood in New Rochelle, New York, where she was teased and bullied for not looking like everyone else. “Lil’ Kim is what I use to get money,” she explained of her stage persona to the Washington Post, “a character I use to sell my records.” The rapper was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on July 11, 1974. Showing our body,” said another.īehind the salacious visual and lyrics about diamonds, stilettos, and fellatio, Kimberly Jones was a young woman trying to exert her power in a man’s world. “She made people feel like that’s all we about. The TV show Rolanda, hosted by Rolanda Watts, aired an episode titled “Is Lil’ Kim sexualizing our children?” “The poster is vulgar and I think it misrepresents Black women,” said a young woman on the daytime show. In 1996, the image incited parental debates over whether the rapper was destroying the moral fabric of the country. ![]() Plastered around New York City, the soft-core promo had pedestrians doing double takes. Lil’ Kim’s Hard Core album - two million copies sold worldwide - was a fun, raunchy romp distilled into one famous image: the diminutive rapper wearing a leopard-print bikini and a fur-lined robe and squatting with both legs opened. In this exclusive excerpt, Krishnamurthy looks at how women in rap and design changed the game in the 1990s and early aughts, particularly Lil’ Kim, Donatella Versace, Kimora Lee Simmons, and the circle of superstars around them. In her book, Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion, longtime music journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy chronicles the unique and often unlikely kinships - forged through family, friendships, and sometimes simply fame - that have been the basis of legendary collaborations between labels and tastemakers in Black music. Luxury fashion has become synonymous with hip-hop, though not too long ago, many of its institutions would have turned their noses up at the rap stars who dominate pop culture today (and racism is still resonant in the industry despite modern strides). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |