Hillcrest House examines Lil’ Kim

Rapper Lil’ Kim is not only gracing the pages of tabloids and flashing across our television screens, but her name is at the center of an Honors Program lecture.

Students gathered at the Hillcrest House Wednesday afternoon to hear Michelle Smith-Bermiss, assistant professor of the English department, speak about one of pop culture’s most talked-about icons.

The program, "Playing Herself: Gender and Sexuality as Performed by Hip Hop’s Lil’ Kim," was part of the Honors Program Brown-Bag Lecture Series. Maureen Shanahan, assistant director of the Honors Department, felt that Smith-Bermiss’s research on Lil’ Kim’s relationship to gender and sexuality would make for an interesting program.

"Michelle Smith-Bermiss is new to campus, as am I, and we both have an interest in and believe in the value of analyzing contemporary pop culture," Shanahan said. "I thought it would be interesting for students to hear about all of the research she’s done on this subject."

Smith-Bermiss had the attention of approximately 30 students from the beginning, stating that her presentation would not be "PG-13." She answered the question, "Why talk about hip-hop in an academic setting?," saying that there is home-grown hip-hop all over the world.

"[Hip-hop] is the social text of our time —an international youth culture," Smith-Bermiss said.

Throughout the presentation, Smith-Bermiss illustrated the many ways rapper Lil’ Kim was not only "playing herself," but creating an image in a hip-hop scene dominated by men. She spoke of female rappers who came before Kim, like Queen Latifah and the challenges they faced, breaking barriers that Kim seems to be stepping over. Though she is surrounded by what Smith-Bermiss calls "glam rappers" like P. Diddy, Lil’ Kim said she’s "kickin it like the fellas do."

Freshman Mike Wheeler was responsive to Smith-Bermiss’s insight that Lil’ Kim takes on the same enthusiasm in her performances that many male rappers do.

"I thought it was interesting," Wheeler said. "It made a lot of sense to me how Lil’ Kim does act the same way certain male rappers do in certain ways."

Freshman Lauren Caskey said she was impressed that JMU would talk about someone as controversial as Lil’ Kim in an academic setting.

"I think it really says a lot about JMU that we can have discussions about such controversial topics in an academic forum," Caskey added.