Why Diddy thought Lil Kim wasn’t suited for rap: “Female rappers don’t look like her”
Lil Kim is arguably the female emcee who paved the way for the likes of Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion and could even be considered the first commercially successful female rapper ever.
A true trendsetter, Lil Kim, with her sexually provocative lyrics and coloured hairstyles, set the blueprint for female rappers, with almost every female artist adopting the Lil Kim approach today. Whether it’s their look, lyrical content or fashion sense, you can see the influence permeating modern female rap.
However, in her youth, before she took up music as a profession, Diddy, who is currently facing multiple allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct, discouraged her from pursuing rap. Lil Kim was introduced to the now-disgraced music executive through Biggie Smalls, who was the star of Brooklyn in the 1990s.
Biggie met Lil Kim after hearing her deliver a fierce freestyle on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, more specifically on the corner of Fulton Street. By this time, Biggie was already a well-known emcee in the area and had signed with Bad Boy.
After hearing her lyricism and excellent rap skills, the ‘Juicy’ rhymer asked her to join his group, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and they quickly began recording amazing hip-hop music together.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the ‘Lighters Up’ artist recalled, “He became my friend, my lover, my everything. I was his biggest fan. He knew I would be the biggest female rapper. I think I inspired him to want to do different things and be different.” Shortly after they met, Biggie took it upon himself to introduce her to his boss.
In 2011, while speaking to MTV News, Kim recalled the day she met Diddy, who was then known as Puffy or Puff Daddy. Explaining that he wasn’t impressed with her, Kim recalled, “Biggie did bring me to Puffy. He said, ‘She’s too pretty to be rapping. Female rappers don’t look like her. What am I supposed to do with her?'”
Diddy was so unbothered by Kim that he didn’t even sign her to Bad Boy Records, even after her debut album Hard Core went Platinum. For years, up to the 2010s, the pair weren’t on speaking terms, and she was upset by the fact that he appeared on Nicki Minaj’s song ‘Hello Good Morning’, which allegedly had several disses aimed at her.
Kim also disclosed to MTV News that Diddy never visited her when she was in prison between 2005 and 2006 despite her unwavering loyalty to him. Opening up about her sentiments, she detailed, “I’m bothered by his actions because I rolled with Puffy to the bitter end and still would have rolled with him. Puffy never came to see me in prison, not one time. He didn’t write me a letter. He didn’t say, ‘Here’s a number for Kim to call,’ not one time.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs and Lil’ Kim are still two icons who were at each other’s sides for much of their careers, but Diddy was still convinced that Kim was too pretty to be a female rapper.