Lil Mama Biography

Niatia Jessica Kirkland, better known by her stage name Lil Mama, is an MTV Music Award-nominated American rapper currently signed to Jive Records. Lil Mama was born in Harlem and later moved to the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York where she attended Edward R. Murrow High School.

In 2006 she signed a recording contract with Jive Records. Lil Mama worked with producers such as Cool & Dre, Scott Storch, The Runners, and Dr. Luke. In June 2007 she released her first single Lip Gloss. The single which was her breakout hit peaked at 10 on U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated Monster Single of the Year at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. This song was #56 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

Her second single G-Slide (Tour Bus) was released in September that same year but failed to match Lip Gloss's success failing to chart it the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Though the single was a Top Ten hit peaking at #8 on the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart making it her first single to chart worldwide. The single was featured in the film How She Move.

In February 2008 she released her third single Shawty Get Loose with T-Pain and Chris Brown.

Her debut album VYP (Voice of the Young People) was released via Jive Records April 29, 2008. A fourth official single What It Is (Strike a Pose) with T-Pain failed to chart. A Promo Single Truly In Love Featuring Peter Toh was released in 2009 coincided with a music video.

She is currently a judge on America's Best Dance Crew on MTV. The series which premiered February 7, 2008 has run for five seasons.

On September 14th, 2009, she made national headlines when she went on stage unannounced during Jay-Z and Alicia Keys live performance of Empire State of Mind during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. She would later apologize for her behavior, citing the connection she felt to the song as the main reason she decided to act as she did. Although the ensuing media hype was heavily overshadowed by the Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident that occurred on the same night, she was heavily criticized for her behavior by local media outlets and Jay-Z admitted during a radio interview that he was 'pissed' by her actions and wish that she would've understood the amount of hard work that was undermined by her behavior.