Blair Caldwell
Saweetie Says Lil' Kim Has the Best Bar in Female Rap History
Saweetie is giving Lil’ Kim her flowers.
Speaking with Issa Rae for Apple Music’s “Issa’s Raedio Show,” the “Best Friend” rapper revealed who she thinks has the best bar in female rap history, bestowing the honors on the Queen Bee for her 1996 single “Not Tonight.”
“I think Lil’ Kim’s ‘Not Tonight.’ I think this is the best bar in female history,” Saweetie said of the Hard Core classic. “I like when she says, ‘Tryin’ to impress me with your five G stones / I’ll give you 10 Gs, ni**a, if you leave me alone.’ When I heard that, I was like…I felt it. I knew what she meant and that’s just the most boss thing someone could ever say. Like, I love that line.”
Saweetie said her mother put her on to the Brooklyn rap icon when she was growing up. “My mom listened to a lot of Lil’ Kim and Foxy [Brown]. I’ve always liked their demeanor. Their demeanor is just, I know that when they step into the room, you can just feel that bossness. They always just felt so powerful to me.”
Additionally, she gave props to Missy Elliott for her creativeness. “I love me some Missy. I always tell people, if I’m going to get nasty, I’m going to get nasty like Missy because she’s always creative and she’ll make you think. So, that’s what I drew from her.”
Saweetie’s influences also include Trina (“I love Trina’s attitude. I love how comfortable she was in her own body”) and Nicki Minaj, who she discovered online. “In high school, Nicki dropped two or three mixtapes that I just super loved and it opened my eyes to what a modern day female rapper may felt like because everybody else, my aunties and my mom was listening to them, but I discovered Nicki on LimeWire.”
Saweetie is now readying her debut album Pretty Bitch Music. The project, which will contain at least 17 tracks, will be a true representation of herself.
“I used to struggle with my sound. I didn’t know how to properly deliver. I didn’t know what inflection was. I couldn’t find producers who made sense with my brand and my voice because all those things were congruently to make a good song,” said Saweetie.
“I definitely feel like Icy and High Maintenance were highly produced, great sound quality bodies of work, but I still feel like people didn’t understand me. And while in quarantine people have learned about me through my content. I think this is a time for people to get to know me through my music, which is so important to me.”