We Talk To Lil Mama
Artist:
RWD
It’s 8pm on a warm Wednesday evening in New York City. Most teenagers would be hanging outside Maccy D’s, playing on PS3 or, maybe, just maybe doing some homework. 17 year-old Niaitia Kirkland however, is just finishing up an interview with RWD magazine before heading to the studio to record with some chick called Missy Elliot. “I’m honoured,” grins the girl known to most as Lil Mama. “I’m happy for real. For real.”
Tonight, she’ll stay in the booth with Miss E ‘till way past 2am. Considering she was recording till 4am the night before, and has just done an entire day of drops, press and photoshoots, we’re amazed she’s still awake. But given she’s one of eight children who grew up dirt poor in one of Brooklyn’s most notorious neighbourhoods, such drive and determination is perhaps to be expected. “When I was young, my father being locked up in prison, so my mother took care of all of us kids at home; it was a lot of eating Oodles of Noodles everyday and drinking water, just to survive,” she remembers. “Life was about putting the soap in the house, paying the bills and by the end of the day we didn’t really have anything. It was like we was set up in our community to always be poor.” Just a few years ago, Mama’s mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, meaning the young teen had even more responsibilities to help raise her five younger siblings.
Luckily, things changed for Lil Mama a few months back. Initially spotted by DMX’s former manager Ali Samil, the Jay-Z and Biggie fan was taken to producer James ‘Groove’ Chambers of Nappy Roots fame. Together they concocted a stomping, hook-laden tune Lipgloss, which is fast shaping up into the official Song Of The Summer. Far from a one-hot wonder though, this young woman is truly talented. Not only a rapper and songwriter, she really gets on her grind. Plus, she can really, really rap. Check out the YouTube’s of her spitting over Show Me What You Got, cop the album when it drops in September, or listen to the remixes of Avril Lavinge’s Girlfriend, and Rihanna’s Umbrella and you’ll see she really has what it takes to be the next Kim/ Foxy/ Eve and Missy.
“I’ve been honing my skills for years,” the confident MC insists. “I guess everything is about timing so if the time was right for me to come out at 14, I would have. But I’m glad it’s now because I feel that no one’s really in my lane. I sing, I rap, I write and I’m about being the best I can be.”
To that end, Mama has decided not to include swearing on her album, figuring kids do enough of that at home and at school. “If you go with what’s everyone else is doing, rather than have your own mind and your own creativity, you’re not a true artist. My album,” she grins, “sounds like none other.”
For this talented New Yorker, all eyes are on her and she’s determined to say what really, really needs to be heard. “I believe that the youth has changed so much because a lot of us are taking a on the responsibilities of parenthood, and with that comes independence but also pressure and depression. So with all of those things on top of a teenager, it’s very hard so I am here to show that we need to be understood more,” she says gathering up her rhyme book and Rocawear hoodie. “We need to be taken more seriously. People need to wake up and realise what’s going on.”
Lipgloss and Voice Of The Young People are out September. Listen to Lipgloss here: Lipgloss
RWD Magazine
It’s 8pm on a warm Wednesday evening in New York City. Most teenagers would be hanging outside Maccy D’s, playing on PS3 or, maybe, just maybe doing some homework. 17 year-old Niaitia Kirkland however, is just finishing up an interview with RWD magazine before heading to the studio to record with some chick called Missy Elliot. “I’m honoured,” grins the girl known to most as Lil Mama. “I’m happy for real. For real.”
Tonight, she’ll stay in the booth with Miss E ‘till way past 2am. Considering she was recording till 4am the night before, and has just done an entire day of drops, press and photoshoots, we’re amazed she’s still awake. But given she’s one of eight children who grew up dirt poor in one of Brooklyn’s most notorious neighbourhoods, such drive and determination is perhaps to be expected. “When I was young, my father being locked up in prison, so my mother took care of all of us kids at home; it was a lot of eating Oodles of Noodles everyday and drinking water, just to survive,” she remembers. “Life was about putting the soap in the house, paying the bills and by the end of the day we didn’t really have anything. It was like we was set up in our community to always be poor.” Just a few years ago, Mama’s mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, meaning the young teen had even more responsibilities to help raise her five younger siblings.
Luckily, things changed for Lil Mama a few months back. Initially spotted by DMX’s former manager Ali Samil, the Jay-Z and Biggie fan was taken to producer James ‘Groove’ Chambers of Nappy Roots fame. Together they concocted a stomping, hook-laden tune Lipgloss, which is fast shaping up into the official Song Of The Summer. Far from a one-hot wonder though, this young woman is truly talented. Not only a rapper and songwriter, she really gets on her grind. Plus, she can really, really rap. Check out the YouTube’s of her spitting over Show Me What You Got, cop the album
“I’ve been honing my skills for years,” the confident MC insists. “I guess everything is about timing so if the time was right for me to come out at 14, I would have. But I’m glad it’s now because I feel that no one’s really in my lane. I sing, I rap, I write and I’m about being the best I can be.”
To that end, Mama has decided not to include swearing on her album, figuring kids do enough of that at home and at school. “If you go with what’s everyone else is doing, rather than have your own mind and your own creativity, you’re not a true artist. My album,” she grins, “sounds like none other.”
For this talented New Yorker, all eyes are on her and she’s determined to say what really, really needs to be heard. “I believe that the youth has changed so much because a lot of us are taking a on the responsibilities of parenthood, and with that comes independence but also pressure and depression. So with all of those things on top of a teenager, it’s very hard so I am here to show that we need to be understood more,” she says gathering up her rhyme book and Rocawear hoodie. “We need to be taken more seriously. People need to wake up and realise what’s going on.”
Lipgloss and Voice Of The Young People are out September. Listen to Lipgloss here: Lipgloss
RWD Magazine
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Comments
Faisal
05 Nov 2007, 08:03
05 Nov 2007, 08:03
i hate u lil mama
carla
16 Nov 2007, 18:20
16 Nov 2007, 18:20
hii well i thnk tht hu eva sed they hate her sudnnt cuz she has made her life successful
Diamond
01 Dec 2007, 20:49
01 Dec 2007, 20:49
hey lil mama this yo gurl Diamond I rap to but Im not on tv i dont want to say my number but you can look my number up under L arnold in the phone book please call I rap to.
