Recently one hit wonder and MTV's America's Best Dance Crew judge Lil Mama sat down with Vibe.com to talk about her career and her "futuristic" style. Recently, Lil Mama received a lot of flack for sporting a blonde bob wig to the MTV Movie Awards. Critics claimed she was copying Nicki Minaj. When Vibe asked Lil Mama about the whole bob wig ordeal, Lil Mama said she was rockin' the bob first and Nicki didn't start until she saw Lil Mama wearing it.
Peep some excerpts from her interview below:
I think besides growing as an artist, the most obvious evolution is that of your style. It’s definitely more risky and avant-garde. Why that direction?
What people get twisted is that when you're an artist, you are art. You think a certain a way. My family would be like "Yo, you are crazy; where did we find you at?" We all grew up in New York and the swag is so simple. But I was like "Nah I don't want to wear it like that. I know that's the new fashion, but I want to wear it like this." And they'd be like "Girl you crazy." I guess you can say I've always been a trendsetter and being a trendsetter you're going to get both sides of the fence because it's not easy to digest. And it’s not easy to digest because it’s not everywhere. I really don't care what people think though.
Interesting thing is that leftfield style is actually becoming more of the norm. How do you react to folks saying your biting Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga?
Come on, let's be real okay. You have all these people wearing different colored hair. At the end of the day I'm a bombshell, so I'm going to do me. If I want to go platinum, I'm going platinum. Let's not forget that we have had people doing these things way before the people who are doing it now and let's also not forget that the black community sometimes we really hang ourselves because every time another black female gets up there and does something that may be current, we criticize each other and try to put each other down, but when Katy Perry and Lady Gaga do it, they all eat. But I'm not going to be a part of that. I'm going to do me, regardless. She was a guest on America's Best Dance Crew and immediately afterwards, everywhere she went, she was wearing the haircut, the same exact way. But that doesn't make me feel like ‘Oh she's trying to be down’ like how I said about our culture. I'm actually flattered because she imitated me and it felt like something that I was doing was cute and in time for the fashion and for the season, so it's like let's live, let's do it.
Very valid point… I think the biggest style criticism was thrown at you this past MTV Movie Awards. Bunch of people thought you jacked Nicki’s haircut.
But my cut is blunt and futuristic and Nicki Minaj started wearing that bob on her head after she came to my show, so at the end of the day I know what I do and I know what I possess and I know who I am. I'm a trendsetter. The biggest form of flattery is imitation so I'm flattered. I understand the universal law. I'm not confused, I don't feel like a follower. I started so many things that new artists are doing now anyway –my style, the way I'm aggressive on a track, the way I come through, the way my beat bangs. There are so many things that were borrowed, that I influenced that's happening in music right, so I'm far from discouraged.
When I first interviewed you back in the day, you mentioned how other female rappers didn’t embrace you much. Has that changed or stayed the same?
It hasn't really changed. You know what, let me catch myself. MC Lyte definitely embraces me. Jada Pinkett Smith embraces me. Those are two people that I can call and get advice. Those are two people that will call me to see what I'm doing. I think that everybody else that's still on the radar like Missy and [Lil] Kim, feel so challenged right now. The root of female rap now is all about your swag and doing things independently. Everything is just boosted up to where these females who created the platform for us feel imitated. The kind of in that position right now where they feel like ‘Don't get it twisted because I will drag you…’
Ha! Were you and Nicki at least able to chop it up after her episode of ABDC?
We didn't really get a chance to vibe out like that after the show. It was just business. It was a level of respect though. Despite of what anybody might hear or have to say through the web, internet, music, subliminals, or whatever, when people see me in this industry I am respected and I will be respected. Anything else goes under the rug so I don't see it. Whoever it may be, it's always a level of respect because I respect myself and I will be respected.
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