Album: Lil’ Mama – V.Y.P. (Voice of the Young People)

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It has been a long time since the days of “ladies first” and the fight for equality between genders in the testosterone-fuelled rap game. The time of the socially aware and outspoken MCs of the female gender (think MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and then  Lauryn Hill and Jean Grae), really seems to be a thing of the past in 2008. We now see the celebration of material items and using sexuality for personal gains (Foxy Brown, Lil’ Kim and the ilk) which began in around the mid-90s.

Not necessarily filling the void but providing an alternative, 18-year-old Li’ Mama emerges with both a youthful exuberance and an astuteness beyond her age. Her bright and shiny Lip Gloss did not really hint at her mature sensibility. It is evident however on her 18-track debut, as she attempts to serve as both a positive female role model and a Voice of the Young People. “I don’t think that parents should sugar-coat information for kids because we’re gonna get it raw from the streets anyway,” she says on the cinematic-style Intro.

The intergalactic pop-funk provided by T-Pain on Shawty Get Loose is a much more effective (if ultimately basic) platform for the young spitter to strut her stuff and perfectly encapsulates her style, with both a display of her ferocious flow and a definite nod to the clubs/radio. While making strides with her new single, on the same hand she goes backwards a few steps with the nauseating nursery rhyme flavour of G-Slide (Tour Bus), interpolating the children’s favourite the Wheels on the Bus. Going for the teenybopper market is one thing, the kindergarten is another story.

The above misstep makes her moments of clarity even more surprising and welcomed, truly shining as a mouth-piece for the young and struggling on cuts like L.I.F.E. Playing the role of a pregnant teen, over a suitably dramatic soul-sampling backdrop she spits: “I’m pregnant by a dude and he not 16/but I like his style, his whip is mean/my Mama told me to find a man that could take care of me, and he does buy me things but he beats on me.”

Lil’ Mama also displays some soulful singing talents on the slow-burning and mournful Broken Pieces most notably, as well as the hood anthem Stand Up. Unlike a number of her somewhat one-dimensional counterparts, she proves to have a well-rounded musical ability in her repertoire. Meanwhile, the horn-tastic throwback style of Make It Hot is a club banger gone right.

The need for blatant club bangers is understandable, particularly in the current ringtone era. If Lil’ Mama was able to harness the qualities displayed on the tracks of a more serious nature and inject that into her club hits she could really be on to something. It is possible to appeal to the masses while being “grown and sexy”, it worked for Salt N Pepa and TLC.

As a whole package Voice of the Young People, gets a thumbs in the middle, it’s not awful nor is it brilliant. Lil’ Mama possesses the conundrum of having both an identity crisis and a well defined and clear focus at the same time. As long as she is young, the need to appeal to people her age and younger with simplistic fluff will be there. On her debut the 18-year-old has shown class and qualities that indicate she will be in it for the long run. It’s an encouraging start for sure.

Maybe next semester.

Available through Jive Records