Steve 'Flash' Juon“You’ve been staring at me for like, a fucking hour
Can I help you? Like, what’s your problem?
If you get near me though – if you try to touch me
I swear to God shitdick
I will take my Louboutins and castrate you” – “Don’t Touch Me”
The easiest way to explain “Lil Mariko” is simple: “What if Kreayshawn but Asian and violent?” Both rappers experienced a predictably viral surge off a single video showcasing unexpected rap skills — the former being “Gucci Gucci” and the latter being “Where’s My Juul?” The former was at least (allegedly) serious about being a rapper due to her love of all things Cali rap, to the point she was filming videos for other emcees before starring in her own. With lyrics like “I’ve got glitter on my clit… cause I’m a shiny bitch” I can only take Mariko at face value that she had no intention of going any further than a joke song about how much she likes to vape.
The downsides is pretty steep from this point forward, and given the Lolita tone of her hit video, she and boyfriend/producer Full Tac were already exploiting unfortunate Asian stereotypes to begin with. That raises a good question though: is it exploitation if you’re the one exploiting yourself, or stereotypes about your ethnicity? There’s an argument to be made that if you’re the one making the money you’re “taking the power back” in this scenario. There’s an equally valid argument that you’re just making it harder for anyone in your position to be taken seriously in the future. “I’m so shiny you can see me from fucking space.” “Yeah you know this pussy tight.”
The only thing that makes this joke work for me is when Mariko suddenly stops her “I’m a dumb valley girl” rap and SCREAMS her vocals at the top of her lungs. The video and the lyrics suggest she’s selling sex, but the delivery suggests she’d happily cut your throat. “Boring” achieves the same effect, illustrated nicely in the accompanying clip by her screaming so loudly it knocks her uninteresting boyfriend over backward in his chair. At least this is different from every other hot tub streamer who makes incels mad. You can’t knock her hustle in that respect.
You can however knock how one note the joke of selling sex is for Lil Mariko. “Hi, I’m a Slut” goes for laughs by purposefully being as X-rated and pornographic as possible, but the instrumental just makes it an even more naughty version of Doja Cat’s “Juicy” without Tyga. Based on the raps Mariko definitely thinks you should see it from the back… and the front… and the middle… and when she’s blowing you. There’s that whole sexploitation dilemma again. I know this is all fake and it’s a big joke on everyone that she’s pretending to be slutty. Does her audience know? Are they going to confuse the two until she has a “Don’t Touch Me” situation in real life? It’s possible.
Let’s hope for both her and Full Tac that’s never the case. For the self-titled debut of “Lil Mariko” it’s never clear if she intended to wind up with a full fledged musical career, though Full Tac does have the musical chops to take even a joke idea and give it actual substance. The question is simple — where does she go from her? Does she intend to be a Lil’ Kim or Nicki Minaj for a new generation, reclaiming the power of the pussy, or does she just intend to be a YouTube/IG/TikTok sensation who just raps for views a la Jake Paul? Based on the presentation thus far it’s hard not to think it’s the latter, but I’d lie if I said she wasn’t entertaining … and yes, cute too. Don’t touch though or she’ll cut your genitalia off.