Earlier today, Power 105.1fm’s The Breakfast Club gave rapper and America’s Best Dance Crew host Lil Mama, what they called ‘an intervention’. Withing a minute of the interview, Charlamagne wasted no time before he started taking jabs at her looks. “It’s like you, Greg Oden and Lebron James may have the same gene. Like y’all young with old faces; you may have Benjamin Button Syndrome. If you’re face was the bible, it would be the old testament”.
For the most part, Lil Mama handled her own as she took Charlamagne’s cheap shots like a pro while speaking on everything from her recent comments towards Nicki Minaj, to the infamous moment when she crashed Jay-z and Alicia Keys performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, however, it was Angela Yee who brought her to tears after she told Lil Mama that she felt like she wasn’t focused on her music anymore. Lil Mama went on to talk about her struggle, especially that of her mom who passed away from Cancer a few years ago. “I put out an album at 17 when my mother was dying of cancer. That’s hard”.
Check out a few excerpts from the interview plus the video below:
Do you believe Nicki Minaj stole your style?
I mean it is what it is. My side is very neutral. The last time we seen any female emcees before Nicki there was me. When it came to radio interviews or whatever, people would always be like “where are the female emcees?” At this point where I’ve stepped back a little from music still continuing with television and my career, people probably ask her that same question. So, it’s just a lot of controversy around just being a female in Hip Hop. I think that a lot of times our community really focuses on celebrating one female emcee at a time and I think that’s where it comes in, that controversy…the who stole what style…at the end of the day, I’m talented and there’s only one Lil Mama.
Why don’t you like Nicki? If anything you should be happy for her.
Yeah, I am happy for any young woman especially a woman that comes from a minority community such as myself. I know how hard it is and you have to have tough skin so at the end of the day, anybody that’s doing their thing, I genuinely respect that.
What made you feel like you could get up on stage with Alicia Keys and Jay-Z?
I’ve always been apart of Hip Hop just put it like that. If you get your limelight whether you’re 16, 21 or wherever you at, you get your lime when you get your lime but if you’re apart of Hip Hop, if you’re a child of Hip hop, your going to always be a part of Hip Hop. In my day, in my era Ralph McDaniel, just being five and being at block parties you can go on stage. If you see an award show, you’ll see people go on stage, you’ll see that energy and it will be received. So, maybe my love was misconcepted…I don’t know, I had a good time.
Charlamagne: You have a lot of confidence and that’s a good thing but you actually have to [accomplish] a lot more before you come off as cocky
But I didn’t come off as cocky, I come off as confident and I believe in God. I’m a high believer in God and I know who I am. I’m not going to come up to a radio station or anywhere else and let anyone strip me of my pride. I know who I am, so when you talk about cocky there are so many people that are out here who haven’t done anything.
On stepping away from music (crying)
Listen, I’ve taken a step away from music already. I’m getting back into the music now. I’m not here to say what I’m going to do. When I was 17-years-old, I put out an album while my mother was dying of cancer. That right there alone is a struggle, that’s hard, that’s tough for anybody but my music will speak for itself, my actions will speak for itself, my mother will be proud, my father will be proud at the end of the day. Nobody can stop me period.
How did your mother feel about your music career?
My mother was a musician. My mother was raw, she was real, she was official so, she loved music and I love music. I’m not here to encourage anybody to support me…I’m not here for none of that. I’m just here to let y’all know what it is. You take it or leave it.
I think you should stop focuses on the gimmicks. Right now, you’re like a caricature.
But you’re the person that’s promoting that and you’re suppose to be a person that’s from my community, a Hip Hop community that’s suppose to support the youth that’s coming out of here. I understand your character, I understand you’re here to bash people, make jokes and be funny, I get it, I totally get it but at the end of the day keep it official with yourself. If y’all are not supporting the youth, if y’all are not supporting the young people that’s coming out of this community, nobody else will support them. They follow radio and listen to whatever y’all play. So when y’all young kids grow up to be hoes and drug dealers it’s because of you. I’m going to me regardless; I’m not changing who I am because of the promotion. I don’t look at TV or radio and say “Oh, I’m going to be a hoe now. Oh, I’m going to do this. Oh, I’m going to talk like this. Oh, I’m going to get a tattoo that says, ‘I’m a doll.’ Oh, I’m going to get a chain that says I’m a doll.” I’m Lil’ Mama until the day I die period.
I’m sure some of these things affect you; does it hurt your feelings?
None of this hurts my feelings. Thinking about my struggle and thinking about how hard it really was losing my mom and having pressure from a label and everybody asking me about an album and all that stuff, just to think about that of course, I’m going to get a little emotional, I’m a woman, women are emotional. At the end of the day, I’m a strong black woman, I know where I’m from and I know how I was built, so at the end of the day, none of this stuff can destroy me. Like when y’all kept bringing up about getting onstage with Jay-Z when I’m suppose to be supported as a young black woman and people suppose to get it together and fix yourself, everybody bashed me and tried to treat me like I was a criminal. I would’ve crumbled then but I’m still going and I’m still standing.
There has been times that Lil Mama may have gotten above herself in interviews but she’s definitely misunderstood. It hurt my heart a little bit when she started crying while talking about her mother. That’s hard for anyone to deal with at a young age and then to be chastised in an interview as well as on a consistent basis….but she handles it like a ‘G’. I’m glad to see it ended on a positive note, though…
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