For many my age, Lil’ Kim’s era was far before I was born. Even so, any of us can see her influence today in the hip hop community, especially for women. When I look at Nicki Minaj sporting a bright green wig, I see Lil’ Kim. When I hear Cardi B rap about sex like second nature, I hear Lil’ Kim. From her high fashion, to her clever and progressive lyrics, Lil’ Kim is an icon for many young women in the hip hop community.
Lil’ Kim is not the first female rapper to have sexually suggestive lyrics, but she is the one who expanded the spectrum for female rappers to be more sexually explicit and have a more open platform. For men in hip hop, explicit lyrics including sex, drugs, and violence have always been the acceptable norm. Misogynistic lyrics bragging about how many women they’ve slept with or calling women “bitches” is almost a staple in many popular rap songs. So, a woman coming into a field that often uses them as pawns poses an uncomfortable feeling. Lil’ Kim took the misogynistic words of male rappers and embraced them, shocking the world in 1996 with her debut album Hard Core.
Hard Core takes the cockiness of a man and combines it with Lil’ Kim’s witty rhymes, turning into a 15-track sexual revolution. Lil’ Kim raps with poise, each syllable clear as day, so that every listener knows she says what she means. There are a few male features on the album, such as Jay Z and Lil’ Cease. Each time they rap about their usual antics, it’s normal. When Lil’ Kim comes on to spit the same (if not more) sexually explicit content, it surprisingly blends in naturally. It is this confidence that separates Lil’ Kim from the rest. A woman being so explicit in her words would normally be seen as un-lady like and shameful, but Lil’ Kim takes that societal expectation and throws it out the window.
Hard Core received a lot of praise and even a Grammy nomination. However, it also received some hate. Lil’ Kim’s positive attitude got a lot of backlash from other female rappers and listeners. Some thought it wasn’t sexually liberating, it was vulgar! Others thought that rather than progressing women forward in hip hop, it instead took them a step back as only being seen as male accessories. However, Kim’s explicitness was not for men, it was clearly for herself.
The movement of Hard Core is not about turning all women into sex-driven maniacs. It’s about having the choice to be sexually open. After all, part of the feminist movement today is about not judging women for their sexual endeavors. Sexually open or not, female rappers today sure have the confidence to rule the world of hip hop, for Lil Kim has given them the opportunity to do so.