Video: Lil Mama: "L.I.F.E. What It Is (Strike a Pose)"
Just another weirdly titled single from Lil Mama, but this time it's the one you knew was coming. No "Lip Gloss"-ing it over: Lil Mama gets conscious on "L.I.F.E. What It Is (Strike a Pose)", the latest video from the young Brooklyn rapper's finally arrived album-length debut, VYP: Voice of the Young People. The message is positive, but it's easier to cheer people up with a fun, sassy tune than it is to tackle issues in a pop song and make it profound (just ask Will.I.Am). So here we see Lil Mama in what looks to be her eastern Brooklyn neighborhood, playing a pregnant teenager with an abusive boyfriend. She says, "And I don't really blame the man/ I blame my mother for not teaching me the right kind of man." Tough medicine. The chopped-up soul vocal rising above the track's funereal synths is a nice effect, like a siren but less obvious and more sonically engaging. It's inspiring that Lil Mama's taking her self-proclaimed role as Voice of the Young People so seriously, but from an aesthetic standpoint, Ms. McClarkson might be better at that stuff-- for now. (via Idolator)
[from VYP: Voice of the Young People; out now on Jive]