Glossin’

TEXT BY WHOADIE ALLEN PHOTO BY PETER BESTE

Minus the bamboo earrings, Lil Mama is the around-the-way girl LL always dreamed of. This 16-year-old shorty woke up one morning, skipped class, and wrote a rap about her lip gloss. The result is a massive hit packed with references to high school lockers, L’Oreal brushes, and Mac watermelon flavor. “Lip Gloss” would be a gimmick if it wasn’t for the part where she talks about the high school principal calling her to her office, and just when she thinks she’s about to get suspended it goes a little something like this: “I stepped in the office like, ‘Yes, Ms. McLarskin,’ she’s like, ‘Girl, I ran out of my lip glossin’, write down where you get yours from, cuz I must admit that bubblegum is poppin’!’” It’s the best rap story since Big Bank Hank came home from school and took a dip in the pool.

ice: You keep saying you’re from both Brooklyn and Harlem. What’s the difference?

Lil Mama: They’re different. If you’re from Harlem, your mind and your style are one way, and if you’re from Brooklyn they’re another. Like in Harlem, women pick up fashion from Manhattan, so you’ll see Bergdorf bags and stuff, whereas girls in Brooklyn don’t leave Brooklyn, so they’ll have their own mentality. They get down for the crown every day. But don’t get it twisted, girls in Harlem might still be birds, they just dress nice. Some of them are worse than Brooklyn chicks, honestly. A lot of them don’t have any priorities, they just care about being dressed. They be chasing after guys with money so they can be dressed and still not have money.

And do they all wear lip gloss?

All the girls I hang out with are known for lip gloss. It’s a necessity. Some days you got nothing to look forward to: Your hair ain’t done, you didn’t get paid, you ain’t got nothing to wear so your older brother might be like, “Just wear a hoodie.” But as long as your lip gloss is poppin’ you can still look feminine.

I remember in high school girls use to share that stuff. Isn’t that gross?

I mean, it goes down. But if another girl uses it, it’s got to be a friend that’s really close. Definitely not a MySpace friend. It depends who’s your MySpace friend though. You could have close friends on there, friends you never met, people you might see in the street. You know, sometimes people live in your neighborhood, you see their face but you don’t speak to them. MySpace might bring you closer to them—like if they sing or they dance, you might see their skills and get interested and then become close friends.

Would you share lip gloss with me?

Definitely not. It’s got to be someone you’ve known forever. Like someone that I be around all the time. That would be either my cousin Shaniqua, Naima my other cousin, or Maricel. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t even share lip gloss with Maricel. Oh, but you can put down Emerald. She’s a really good friend of mine, I’d share lip gloss with her.

Where do you buy it?

Um, you can go to Duane Reade. They’ve got variety. I mean va-ri-e-ty. Or Rite Aid. I prefer not to use cheap stuff but it’s about quality, not price. Some lip gloss might cost $2 and work for this person, some might cost $14 and work for another person. Just make sure you never use that clumpy stuff that makes your lips feel funny. It’s not worth it.

How about white girls, what kind of lip gloss should they use?

White girls have lips?

“Lip Gloss” is out now on Jive.