Lil Kim on a 90s talk show getting backlash for her Music

[King Poetic]

Yeah, record companies ran with that ho image as well as with the Tupac with death row thug life shyt. Public Enemy, black power, Queen Latifah UNITY shyt was dead for these labels cause many of us was smart at the time …

I was listening to Tupac first album with storm and part time mutha song and was listening to her speaking real shyt

I listen to heather B on BDP shyt and she was kicking real shyt
Look how artist all kind of change in the 90s, run dmc went from adidas to hoodies and tims and mc lyte went from cha cha to being a rough neck

Look at jodeci image change from church boys to thugs

To

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Women were fighting against being represented in that way and it was clearly a losing battle. It's disturbing that we keep fighting to have the worst representation possible under the guise of "freedom of expression".

When you see women celebrating vulgarity in lyrics as a form of empowerment, just know that they were sold a bill of goods by people who wanted to see them destroyed.

let's not overromatcize things. there were plenty of women who loved what lil kim, foxy, and then trina were selling, just like today there are plenty of women who are tired of overly sexual music and image of the female rappers who get mainstream play.

the big difference is it wasn't just kim and foxy in the mainstream, there were a variety of female rappers, right now, the only females getting push are all the BBL/ex-stripper/twerk girls

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Yeah, record companies ran with that ho image as well as with the Tupac with death row thug life shyt. Public Enemy, black power, Queen Latifah UNITY shyt was dead for these labels cause many of us was smart at the time …

I was listening to Tupac first album with storm and part time mutha song and was listening to her speaking real shyt

I listen to heather B on BDP shyt and she was kicking real shyt
Look how artist all kind of change in the 90s, run dmc went from adidas to hoodies and tims and mc lyte went from cha cha to being a rough neck

Look at jodeci image change from church boys to thugs

there needs to be nuance to this point, yes, some people changed their image to fit what was getting more play - this is always the case, from Brat going from tomboy to sexy chick, Usher going from r&b to EDM king, Hammer leaving pop for that Death Row image, everything No Limit/Master P etc. But the 80's-early 90's was also an era where labels polished their artists and they didn't get a chance to let their real side show until later - whitney and mariah are two women who were kinda hood but well polished in their early years to hide it, janet didn't get to be sexy until the 90's, jodeci is more a group that got caught up in the drugs and fast living of fame vs trying to be thugs (well they were getting strong armed by thugs on death row). Some of it is chasing relevance, some is there being acceptance of they really are which wasn't previously accepted, and some of it is losing themselves in the industry.

 

[JayStarwind]

Yeah, record companies ran with that ho image as well as with the Tupac with death row thug life shyt. Public Enemy, black power, Queen Latifah UNITY shyt was dead for these labels cause many of us was smart at the time …

I was listening to Tupac first album with storm and part time mutha song and was listening to her speaking real shyt

I listen to heather B on BDP shyt and she was kicking real shyt
Look how artist all kind of change in the 90s, run dmc went from adidas to hoodies and tims and mc lyte went from cha cha to being a rough neck

Look at jodeci image change from church boys to thugs

To

That shift is so fascinating yet scary. I hear stories all the time about late 80s rappers being damn near nonexistent going into the 90s because Hip-Hop quickly became more rugged.

 

[JustCKing]

That shift is so fascinating yet scary. I hear stories all the time about late 80s rappers being damn near nonexistent going into the 90s because Hip-Hop quickly became more rugged.

Crazy part about Jodeci is the more rugged they got, the less they sold.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

…the irony that even more sexually aggressive women’s lyrics are now considered a form of empowerment

it was considered a form of empowerment with 1920 classic blues females singers, and then later on with the woman who gave birth to Lil Kim: Millie Jackson




can't forget Betty Davis

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

That shift is so fascinating yet scary. I hear stories all the time about late 80s rappers being damn near nonexistent going into the 90s because Hip-Hop quickly became more rugged.

it's wasn't just about image, sound changed, rhyme scheme/flows changed, etc. LL didn't become a super thug and excelled in the 90's, ATCQ cemented themselves as GOATs in the 90's despite debuting in the 80's and they still maintained their jazzy hippy sound, Heavy D was still going strong. so it wasn't just the image change of hip hop that killed things as non hardcore dudes were some of the few to have success post image change, it was a variety of things

 

[King Poetic]

it's wasn't just about image, sound changed, rhyme scheme/flows changed, etc. LL didn't become a super thug and excelled in the 90's, ATCQ cemented themselves as GOATs in the 90's despite debuting in the 80's and they still maintained their jazzy hippy sound, Heavy D was still going strong. so it wasn't just the image change of hip hop that killed things as non hardcore dudes were some of the few to have success post image change, it was a variety of things

True

I also say the streets had the biggest influence on the change from the gang/drug dealers who was running it , so u had a lot of artist listening to them to become more street to fit the element at that time and as well as extorting these guys…

LiL Kim not only fallen for Biggie sweet talk but she was also influenced from the drug dealer nikkas she also was fukking with

 

[old pig]

it was considered a form of empowerment with 1920 classic blues females singers, and then later on with the woman who gave birth to Lil Kim: Millie Jackson




can't forget Betty Davis

I was familiar with millie jackson growing up…I definitely don’t remember it being considered or verbalized as “empowerment” as it is today…this is not me taking some kind of moral stance btw…just pointing out how much the climate has changed…it’s heavily ironic looking at the clip in the OP…the only thing I question today with some of these artists is the talent (as I do for their male counterparts as well) but I was never bothered by women expressing their sexuality in music

 

[DaHNIC82]

Crazy part about Jodeci is the more rugged they got, the less they sold.

nikkahs was hanging with a 90s Suge Knight.. You better show or act tough

 

[Unemployed GM]

How they gonna crucify her and then have her perform?

You got understand how respectability politics was so strong back then. Everybody felt they had to preach to the young folks.

 

[L. Deezy]

She was so pretty back then. Shame how she let these men fukk up her self esteem

no bullshyt..

 

[TripleAgent]

Full episode:

Diddy is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. This is a commercial. Those preachy activists had no idea.

 

[MidwestD]

to Lil Kim the lieutenant