It is definitely worth noting that in this group, Lil’ Kim uses the most swear words. She leads the pack with seven swears whereas second place belongs to Notorious B.I.G. with only three. In fact, with the exception of one fuck by Puff Daddy, it is not until she enters the song at 2:47 that swearing really begins.
Looking at this video through the lens of Karyn Stapleton’s paper “Gender and Swearing: A Community Practice” we can look at Lil Kim engaging in this aggrestive behavior to transgress the stereotype and expectations of femininity. Whereas women’s language behavior is pigeon holed as being “deferent, polite, nururing, and oriented towards the needs and feelings of others.” (Stapleton, ##) By forgoing all of these attributes, Lil Kim chooses to distance herself from the female behavior stereotype. In adopting the aggressive language of swearing, she constructs a masculine identity for herself.
I figured that I would post the lyrics to Lil’ Kim’s verse in “It’s All About the Benjamin’s.”
I’ll be back soon to discuss what it means that she uses the most swear words out of all the other artists in the song.
Lil’ Kim – Uhh, uhh, what the blood clot?
Wanna bumble wit the bee hahh?
Bzzzzt, throw a hex on a whole family (yeah, yeah yeah)
Dressed in all black like the oman (say what? )
Have your friends singin this is for my homey (thats right)
And you know me, from makin niggaz so sick
Floss in my 6 with the lex on the wrist
If its murder, you know she wrote it (uh-huh)
German luger for your ass bitch, deep throated
Know you wanna fill the room cause its platinum coated
Take your pick, got a firearm you shoulda toted, suck a dick
All that bullshit you kick, playa hatin from the sideline
Get your own shit, why you ridin mine? (uh-huh)
Im, a goodfella kinda lady
Stash 380s and mercedes, puffy hold me down baby!
Only female in my crew, and I kick shit
Like a nigga do, with a trigga too, fuck you
At the end of her verse, Lil Kim raps that she is the “Only female in my crew,” which gives the reader a potential opening to read into her choice of language, presentation of herself, and the lens with which she is portrayed in the video. Early in his career, Puff Daddy (as he then referred to himself) often recorded songs that included many contributors, which led to the creation of “the family.” This loosely defined group that was assembled for Puff Daddy’s debut album “No Way Out” included performers like Notorious B.I.G., Mase, and Carl Thomas. Although she is not the only female contributor, Lil’ Kim appears on multiple songs in the album and is the only female in the particularly crew assembled for “It’s All About the Benjamins.”
My professor suggested that I check out Puff Daddy’s video for All About the Benajmins as material for my profanity paper because of Lil Kim’s role in the song and video. One of Lil’ Kim’s lines is ”Only female in my crew, and I kick shit / Like a nigga do” and it really opens the channel for analysis of what Lil’ Kim must do to compensate for being the only female in this male dominated arena of rap and this particular song and video filled with men.
This is the first post in what will be a series that really digs into this song and video. I plan on analyzing the scoptophilic aspect of the video and reading implications of Lil Kim’s choice of lyrics.
This song came up on my itunes shuffle as I was studying for my comps today and even though I’ve heard this song over a hundred times, there was a line that really struck me today. Granted, I don’t often pay very close attention to lyrics, but when DiFranco sings “my cunt is built like a wound that won’t heal” it really struck me. My first reaction was how striking the word “cunt” sounds in DiFranco’s melodic voice and framed by the upbeat guitar. It also really reminded me of Erika Fricke’s article “In Pursuit of a Feminine Vulgarity,” where Fricke discusses how the language of profanity is intrinsically male and that women need to take it into their own hands and create an empowered language. GI Jane shouldn’t have to yell “suck my dick.” Instead she should find a language that represents her own strength and could be screaming “lick my clit” instead.
The other thing that this line immediately brought to mind was the Braun and Wilkinson’s paper “Socio-cultural Representations of the Vagina” that I spent a lot of time talking about in the Teeth paper. What does it mean to us that DiFranco is invoking this socio-cultural representation of the vagina as a gash? Although the authors did not come up with the theory (I’m pretty sure it is Freudian), Braun and Wilkinson discuss the image of the gash being a wound left behind from castration of the female’s symbolic penis. Because the penis represents power, the female is left with not only an absence of a penis and thus an absence of power, but is also left wounded.
What is striking when you think about the lyrics through the lens of Braun, Wilkinson, and Freud is that not is DiFranco talking about a “cunt” that is “wounded” but rather one that it won’t heal. The fact that she considers the wound one that will not heal, as if that were the goal, really speaks to idea of the power struggle that is still very relevant for women today.
So the song that I’ll be obsessed with this week is Katy Perry’s Hot ‘N Cold. This, of course, is from the same artist as this summer’s hit “I Kissed a Girl.” Aside from it being a great song to run to, I think it’s a really fun anthem for any girl/guy who is having a rough patch in a relationship. However, I think that once you delve into the song, it seems less empowering than it does on the outside.
It is definitely worth noting that in this group, Lil’ Kim uses the most swear words. She leads the pack with seven swears whereas second place belongs to Notorious B.I.G. with only three. In fact, with the exception of one fuck by Puff Daddy, it is not until she enters the song at 2:47 that swearing really begins.
So the song that I’ll be obsessed with this week is Katy Perry’s Hot ‘N Cold. This, of course, is from the same artist as this summer’s hit “I Kissed a Girl.” Aside from it being a great song to run to, I think it’s a really fun anthem for any girl/guy who is having a rough patch in a relationship. However, I think that once you delve into the song, it seems less empowering than it does on the outside.