As new hit FOX series ‘Empire’ continues to reign over TV competition, viewers are finding more and more reasons to fall in love with the show’s first lady Taraji P. Henson.
Portraying the ever-sassy/sharp-tongued mother figure “Cookie,” the D.C.-born beauty’s tongue-in-cheek humor is finding favor from critics and fans alike as it thematically strays from many of Henson’s previous roles. When quizzed on the inspiration for the character in a recent ‘Vogue’ interview, readers were stunned to learn that the star looks no further than the Queen B – Lil’ Kim.
Read her interesting quotes below as she reflects on Kim’s influence on hip hop culture, especially as it relates to the genre’s new leading lady Nicki Minaj:
Via Vogue:
Were there people from hip-hop culture that you specifically referenced for Cookie?
She’s more than hip-hop: She’s everywoman, she’s a mother, she’s a family woman, a wife, a ride-or-die. She made a sacrifice to break the cycle of poverty, and that makes her an everywoman. Is she influenced by Foxy Brown? Certainly. That’s where a lot of her style comes from—Salt-N-Pepa, all of that. That era of hip-hop was her heyday, those are the woman she identifies with.Lil’ Kim is surely a big influence on Cookie.
Kim is everything. Today it’s Nicki Minaj, but Nicki Minaj got everything from Kim. Kim came on the scene and made everything change for women—she made it feminine and sexy and hardcore. She was a champion, and she’s certainly Cookie’s champion.What is it about Cookie that resonates with so many people?
I think it’s because she’s the truth; she speaks the truth. You know exactly what you’re going to get from her. She is what she is—I wish everybody was like that. She’s free, she’s in the now, she says exactly what she feels, and I know most people wish they could all be so bold. She’s the moral compass.
Read the interview in its entirety here.