by Thug Scholar There is no one like Lil’ Kim. No single woman caused as much controversy in the rap world as she did when her album Hardcore was released almost 20 years ago. Her lyrics urged for a new idea of pleasure for Black women to recognize themselves as sexual beings and place their sexual needs as a priority. Prior to Kim’s catapult into the rap game, Black women weren't openly discussing sexuality in graphic detail in their music. Salt n’ Pepa’s album, Let’s talk about Sex flirted with expressing sexual desire more so than their lady predecessors in 1990. TLC said that they weren't too proud to beg in 1992. Despite earlier Black women musicians laying the ground work, it was not until Kim’s Hardcore album release in 1996 that a woman in rap dared to be so forthcoming with talking about erotic pleasure without guilt or shame. Kim discussed oral and anal sex in detail, bragging one line on the song Queen B****, “I got that bomb a** cock, a good a** shot, with hardcore flows to keep a n**** d*** rock,” and “Buffoons eat my p**** while I watch cartoons.” Here was a Black woman who whose main concern was discussing what made her feel good, and whose main focus was to bring herself pleasure. For the music world and Black listeners alike, it was ground breaking. Her refusal to acquiesce to middle-class respectability politics in her lyrical content and imagery is what made her an iconic artist, urging in a new vision of Black sexual politics. “The politics of respectability fails to recognize the power of racism to enforce itself upon even the most respectable and well-behaved Black people. It also polices the unconventional, the non-conformist, and the poor,” writes author Farrah Jasmine Griffin in If You Can’t be Free, Be a Mystery. “In an ethos governed by the politics of respectability, there is no place for the bad Black girl.” Kim’s album is a relevant testimonial to search for what pleases Black women in the erotic realm.
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ATS MagAgainst the Stream Magazine is an urban platform. We edify our readers by finding noble, pure, and true talent and giving it a stage to flourish. While we love bragging about the folks around us, we also tackle urban issues by giving real world solutions. Archives
September 2015
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