It’s been a minute since we last dropped a React Like You Know video, so you know we had to come back strong. Not only do we have a new panel featuring Uproxx cover star Coi Leray and fan favorites like ASAP Tyy, BIA, Kali, and Kidd Kenn, but we’ve given our millennials/Gen Zers an absolute classic video to rock with: Junior Mafia’s “Get Money” featuring The Notorious B.I.G. and Lil Kim.
For some readers, it might be mind-boggling to realize that many of today’s rappers weren’t even born yet when Biggie was shot to death in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997. But his impact still reverberates through their lives and music — even if some of them aren’t even aware of it. The same can be said of Lil Kim, whose influence is one of the common threads in the recent resurgence of female talent in the hip-hop world.
Coi even acknowledges as much, nodding to her own homage to one of Kim’s iconic outfits in her recent Uproxx cover shoot. Meanwhile, Lakeyah sums it up best: “She definitely opened doors for girls like me,” she explains. “She a tough rapper and she owns her sexuality. She knew she was a sexy bitch.” Of course, for a generation that wasn’t raised on the same MTV as the rappers whose videos they’re watching, some of the aesthetics are certainly eye-opening.
When Uproxx’s Cherise Johnson asks whether the rappers back then were raunchier than the ones today, Kidd Kenn wholeheartedly disagrees. “The girls today are disgusting,” he jokes. “I’m one of the girls.”
You can watch our panel react to the “Get Money” video above.