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Lil’ Kim Says She Influenced Female Rappers to Openly Rap About Sex, ‘I Was Nervous’

Lil Kim Interview

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Lil’ Kim just released a new single called “Nasty One,” a radio friendly, reggae inspired tune that’s tailor made for the summer.

In a new interview with Billboard, the legendary rhymer talked about the risqué cut, her early come up in the music industry and how she influenced female rappers to openly rap about sex.

Kim also said despite being a pioneer in delivering explicit lyrics, she wasn’t sure if it was the best idea at first.

“It was so weird. I was nervous when I first came out, like, ‘Did I do the wrong thing? Should I not have said this? Should I not have rapped like this or dressed like this?'” she remembered thinking. “So for me now, to be able to go back to that and it’s so accepted … I almost feel like I need to do something more, even bigger than that. So it’s comfortable and it’s cool for me to be able to do a song like “Nasty One.”

In the new single, Kim talks about how good she is in bed but in the confines of a relationship, which is something she wants girls to absorb.

“No other man makes me feel the way you do / I’m the nastiest when I’m with you / I’m a freak but only with my boo,” she raps.

Today, Kim says her explicit lyrics come with a message, which is different from back in the day. 

“If I could say things to girls now, I want them to use that power in the strongest way,” she explained. “In the song I say ‘I’m nasty,’ but really only with my boo. And if you treat me right, and if you give me what I need as a woman and you respect me, then I’m gonna give you ten times what you’ve given me.”

In November Kim will drop her new album, which will be her first since 2005’s “The Naked Truth,” and she’s trying some new approaches this time around. Mainly, because she doesn’t want to cover the same musical ground as before since she’s a mother now and not the same person.

“Things change, and I want to give my fans what I did and a little bit of something new,” she said. “And another thing too: My fans have seen me on some hardcore sh–. They’ve seen me on some gutter I’m a gangstress, I will shoot your ass if you play me or you steal from me. They’ve seen that. I’ve done that. And last but not least, I’ve lived that. So it’s like, let’s see another side of Kim. Why not? Let’s see a fun side, a sexy side. Well, that’s always there, but a lot of the music I’ve been making is about relationships.”

“My music doesn’t have to be super gangster all the time,” Kim added. ” At the end of the day, I was a kid when I released my first album. Now I’m like this woman, this sexy kitten that knows myself now. I like having fun. I deserve to have fun. I had a whole baby.” [laughs]

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