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djtestudo · 12-21-2004, 03:58 PM

My personal favorite...

http://www.syracuse.com/entertainmen...4103169757.xml

Quote:

Lil' Kim 101
Thursday, December 16, 2004
By Tasneem Grace Tewogbola
Staff writer

Somewhere in the middle of words such as "conceptual decolonization," "arrogant liberalism" and "hypersexuality" is the truth, plain and simple: Dr. Greg Thomas believes Lil' Kim has skills.

Homegirl can flow; her rhymes are tight.

She is, he says, one of the "illest female lyricists ever."
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An English professor at Syracuse University, Thomas aka "G" to his students and friends — teaches one of the most chatted up courses on the hill: Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen B@#$H 101. Twice a week, before a class of 35, he links the lyricism, sexual imagery and social importance of Lil' Kim to Eshu, an African trickster deity.

His mission, he says, is to "jolt people into a new way of thinking."

That means don't diss, or dismiss, the artist because of her blue contacts, bulging breasts or boldly sexual music. That means look beyond the controversy, the crotch shots, the famous nipple pasty and consider what Thomas sees in Lil' Kim: a woman not to be rejected as an enigma but respected as an icon.

He knew it from the moment he heard her debut solo album, "Hardcore," in 1996: "It was clear that not only was this (music) entertaining and satisfying and addictive but it was on the next level in so many ways. I knew it would have significance and be phenomenal."

But then again, he would.

Thomas, who also jams to Erykah Badu, Grace Jones, dancehall, blues and jazz, says he is a "black music person." He finds meaning in music. While many folks suck their teeth at the mere mention of Lil' Kim, let alone her lyrics, he hears her depth, the workings of a woman with more on her mind than genitals and pleasure.

"Shortly after I became a fan of Lil' Kim, I quickly became a student of hers," he explains. Forget the throbbing bass and catchy hooks, Thomas hears Kim and gleans references to cosmology, African spirituality, the architecture of bee hives, the blues, conquest and "sexual poetic justice" a sexy stew calling for academic exploration.

"The thing that struck me the most was her lyrical content when it comes to issues of gender and sexuality," he says. "Kim is the ultimate sexually unassimilated grass-roots black sista."

Making hip-hop history Last August, in his second year of teaching at SU, Thomas reviewed a presentation he gave on Lil' Kim's artistry during a Black Studies conference in Miami titled "Rap, Reggae and Revolution." Ready to further his analysis, he created a 10-page syllabus for the class that falls under English and African American Studies. He also presented the class in a student newspaper called The Black Voice.

That was where Nicole Edwards, a 21-year-old senior, first read about it. She had taken one of "G's" classes before and enjoyed his "thorough" teaching technique. She knew, she says, the class would discuss Lil' Kim in a way that pushes students to understand more than just her music.

"(We're) able to talk about the origins of matriarchy and how it's set up in society," she says. "We also talk about female empowerment as opposed to male bashing. We deconstruct the whole aspect of gender and sex."

Every Tuesday and Thursday night, the class was packed. The unlucky ones pleaded to sit in and listen. E- mails came from graduates upset because the class wasn't offered when they were undergrads. Others insisted Thomas teach the class next semester. He says he'll probably teach it again in 2006.

While academic study of hip-hop typically focuses on murdered musicians (i.e. Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G), Thomas says "We are the first hip-hop course that focuses on someone female, and a hip-hop figure, who is still alive and still produces their art ... We are making history."

Still, there are haters. Those, as Thomas says, with "puritanical, colonial values."

"People who criticize her are running away with stereotypes that have been planted in their brains," he says. Stereotypes that say women should be feminine, meek, submissive, virgins and victims. "Kim embraces her sexuality in a way that promotes female solidarity and the politics that should unite women. This is her lyrical occupation."

Folks who miss her meaning cannot, he says, "diss Lil' Kim without dissing hip-hop."

And Thomas — often clad in small-brimmed hats, T- shirts, roomy jeans and black boots — is hip-hop fan of diverse dimensions. He is a tall, slim blend of intellectualism and popular culture, a D.C. native who lives near Franklin Square, a scholar as well- versed in academic jargon as he is in Jay-Z's latest hit.

In the classroom, there's no tweed blazer, no tattered briefcase, no stoic mask to veil his passion for rap. Thomas talks fast, paces in front of the semi-circle of students and throws around enough Black English and curse words that the venue might as well be in an after-hours spot let alone a brightly-lit classroom. (His syllabus states: Student Advisory: If you find "street" language "offensive," in a bad way, this class is clearly not for you! Can't handle serious discussion of sexual politics in public? Ditto!) During a recent Thursday night class, Thomas tells his students they must "rewrite all knowledge."

It begins, he asserts, by challenging everything you've been taught as truth. He is creating hip-hop archaeologists, social scientists who use the work of scholars such as Audre Lorde and bell hooks to excavate issues hidden in rhythm and rhyme.

Lesson one is basic: What the heck is Lil' Kim rapping about anyway?

Transcription plays with people's heads, Thomas says with sneaky grin. Most appreciate music for its sound, rarely for its lyrical significance. When they find out what artists are really saying, he says, it blows their minds.

"Ya'll know that Jay-Z joint? I got 99 problems?" he asks his students. "How the chorus go?"

"If you having girl problems, I feel bad for you son," Thomas says along with the class. "I got 99 problems but a b@#$h ain't one."

"The chorus draws an equivalence between girl and b@#$h. Is the girl a positive or a negative?" he asks. "Negative," they say in unison.

"(Jay-Z) says his problems are bigger than a b@#$h."

Then he plays a Lil' Kim joint. One where she uses Jay- Z's line about 99 problems except her meaning is different.

"It's a whole different articulation of the same words," Thomas says. "Jay-Z says they're beneath him. She says b!@$hes are not her number one enemy. Men are. See how it's been flipped?"

Scribbling notes, several students nod.

Thomas continues to lead them to what he says are Lil' Kim's grandest accomplishments: the ability to "destroy traditional gender categories" and "systematically attack the oppression of women."

Lil' Kim is in the house In late August, in an act of intuition and curiosity, Thomas mailed his syllabus to Queen Bee Records. Within a month he received an e-mail from her manager: Lil' Kim wants to meet Thomas and her student fans.

So recently — more than can be said for the profs who teach the works of artists such as Langston Hughes, Leonardo da Vinci and Zora Neale Hurston — Thomas delivers his subject: Big Mama Queen B@#$H herself.

On Nov. 3, Lil' Kim sits in on the class that bears her name. Dressed in black stiletto boots, a modest button-down dress and red peek-a-boo push-up bra, Lil' Kim repeatedly clutches Thomas' arm and thanks her "new friend."

"I am still shocked and stunned that this is happening," she says. "I am a spiritual person and I prayed that something else come of my music. I woke up this morning and said, Dag! I'm living large now!'"

It is a lovefest. Students embrace the tiny star, pose for photos and present their course work. Some liken Kim to Queens Isis, Hatshepsut and Nefertiti. Others break down her rap references to women as "earths" and men as "suns." One student thanks her for the inspiration to release her "inner b@#$h."

Kim gushes with praise and tells the students a story.

"Three years ago I met Prince," she says. "He said, Lil' Kim, I bet you don't even know who you are do you?'

"He said I was today's Queen Cleopatra."

Prince encouraged her to read up on African royalty. "And I did my homework."

"You hit it right on the button," she tells the students. Many of my photos and lyrics, she says, are indeed symbolic.

Still, some folks don't buy it — Lil' Kim's music or that she's worthy of study.

Thomas, whose class has received attention from The New York Times, B.E.T. and CNN, says he received about three e-mail from folks criticizing the class. "Why don't you teach about Queen Latifah?" one person asked. One Web site,

www.eurweb.com, invited comments after posting an article entitled, "Orangemen get Hardcore.' Sixty-four people wrote in.

"You got to be kidding me," wrote alexander1906. "This is an insult to academia!"

"When or how did Lil' Kim become important' to hip-hop/rap culture???" asks NYCsoul. "How has she elevated' the game besides walking around naked and cutting herself up??? How does one study' her lyrics, most of it filled with cuss words & explicit sex talk???"

It takes one of Thomas' students to answer this question.

With a quiet voice that booms with excitement when he looks into Kim's blue eyes, Marcus Hill tells Kim her lyrics offer "deep" perspectives and unexpected education.

"I just want to say," he says, waving his hands for emphasis, "you the sh@t!"

The audience falls back with laughter and Lil' Kim applauds the compliment — the perfect response from a revered Queen B!@$h.