Lil Mama

Background

Lil Mama was born on October 4, 1989, in Brooklyn, New York City, as the third of eight siblings. She has five younger siblings and two older brothers. During her childhood, she attended Edward R. Murrow High School. She was given the nickname Lil Mama since she was the family’s oldest daughter. She came from a financially impoverished family; life was difficult for her at first, and she found refuge in poetry and dancing. Mama used to write poems about the difficulties she had to face. Her eventual career as a rapper was built on this basis. More challenges arose when she lost her mother to breast cancer on December 15, 2007.

Women, Wealth, and Relationships, an event sponsored by BET and the Hip Hop Sisters Network, identified Mama as one of the presenters among other speakers. The purpose of the event was to empower and assist black women in areas, such as career, financial stability, family, and men. She appeared alongside Avril Lavigne in her video single “Girlfriend” after obtaining a contract with Jive Records in late 2006. Mama’s debut studio album, “VYP (Voice of the Young People),” was released in 2008 on the Jive Records label. The album debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200 list in the U.S. Since the publication of her debut album, she has collaborated with several well-known performers. ‘On & On & On’ and ‘NYNYLALA,’ featuring Snoop Dogg, as well as ‘Dough Boy’ with Mishon, are some of her successful hits. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, she performed the song ‘Empire State of Mind’ with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

After the RCA Music Group disbanded Arista Records, Jive Records, and J Records, it was clear that all Mama business would be handled directly by RCA Records in the future. She has also been on the judging panel for Howard Schwartz and Karen Schwartz’s “America’s Best Dance Crew,” an American competitive dance reality television series. In the 2013 television biographical film “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story,” she played Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes. Two years later, she released her music video “Sausage,” in which the song was inspired by the ‘Sausage’ trend on Vine. The song quickly went popular, garnering over three million views. It also topped the Billboard music chart and the Twitter charts.