Audrey Pleasant - Lil' Mama

 

 

Tommy. Tommy Johnson. That was my humiliator. I mean, at the age of 13, how could you be so humiliated? Let me not get ahead of myself. 

 

You see, I was going to a church right across the street from me. That was at 141st Street in Harlem between 7th and 8th Avenue. They had a center down there that we used to go down to dance. My dance step, side to side shuffle. [audience chuckles] Side to side shuffle, regardless of what type of music it was. [audience laughter] 

 

I would go there and I'd sit on the side where the young ladies would sit that didn't get a chance to dance too much. I would sit and sit. And this young man by the name of Tommy Johnson would come and ask me to dance. I'd get up, and I'd follow him out to the dance floor like the moth to the flame. We get out there, Tommy would do slides, turns, splits, bend over and shake a tail feather. [audience laughter] And I would do my little favorite step, side, side, side. [audience laughter] Regardless of what he did, I would side, side, side. That was my movement. 

 

Well, Tommy did this so much, and I got tired of it. I mean, I really got tired of it. [audience chuckles] I went home one night after being humiliated, and I laid on my bed crying and thinking about Tommy and his splits and his turns and his bending over and shaking the tail feather. I thought about doing a step. I said, "I could do this. I could do this." I got up off that bed, got my belt out of the closet, put it on the doorknob, tightened it up, closed that door, and I started doing me some slides. Almost tripped over my own foot, but I still did my slides, and I bent over and I shook a tail feather. I even did a little twirling, then I did the half split. I couldn't do the whole split, of course, but [audience laughter] the half split would suffice me. And I kept this up for a whole month. 

 

I mean, I would eat. I would stop and eat. Yes, I'd stop and go to school. I had to go to school because my mother wasn't going to have that. I'd come back home, do my homework, have my dinner, go to my room, and I'd do my little dancing. I'd practice and practice and practice. And one night, the closet door came open. I bumped my head, but I just shook that off and kept right on dancing. I even practiced doing the headstand. I bumped my head again on the floor, shook that off and tried it again till I got it. Like I said, I did that for a whole month till I felt I had it together.

 

And then, one night, one Friday night at 6 o'clock, I got dressed and I went down to the center and I sat in my same little spot. Now, I don't know who Tommy was dancing with while I was gone, but I guess he was dancing with somebody. But I sat in my same spot waiting, just waiting for him to come over and ask me to dance. Through the form here comes Mr. Tommy Johnson. [audience chuckles] I got up and I followed him out to the dance floor.

 

Now, when you get out there on the dance floor, if you're really doing something spectacular, a crowd will gather around you. Now, that crowd is there to help you stay inside the circle, to let the person that's doing the fantastic dancing do their thing. And if you're not dancing so good and you try to get out that circle, you can't go nowhere. [audience chuckles] You got to stay inside that circle and endure the humiliation. [audience laughter] Well, Tommy had asked me to dance again, and I was inside the circle, and he was doing his splits, he was doing his turns, his slides. I mean, he had it going on. He was sliding all over the place and then bending over and shaking a tail pepper. 

 

I let him go right ahead. Go ahead, slide some more, do the split, shake a tail feather. He even galloped like he was riding a pony. [audience laughter] I said, "Yeah, go right ahead, go right ahead." I got tired of looking at him doing all his slides and everything. I slid up to his face and he stood there with his mouth wide open, [audience chuckles] looking at me all wide eyed, all bug eyed. And I showed him what I could do. I showed him my slides. You could think I was James Brown, [audience laughter] I was sliding so good. I showed him how I could bend over and shake a tail feather. I went and did me a half split, which I could do. Did it pretty good, too. He just stood there looking at me with his mouth wide open, all buggy eyed like he was.

 

He tried to walk out the circle, [audience laughter] but they wouldn't let him out. [audience laughter] They came in tighter and enforced it. And that made me more determined to do my slides, my shake a tail feather. I even did like the pony, too. [audience chuckles] Showed him I knew what I could do. And then, when I got tired of him, I slid up to his face again and threw him a kiss, let him know that, "Hey, you ain't got doll like that. I got me a little bit of it, too," and I walked out of that circle.

 

Now, I didn't go back to the center for a while and I didn't know what happened Tommy Johnson. But anyway, one day I was walking down 125th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue, the Apollo Theater's around there. And across the street there was a store called the Record Shack. And they were playing some music. I mean, they were throwing it down. It was one of James Brown's records, too. Something just came over me, and I started dancing. Next thing I knew, I had a crowd of people around me, and I just showed off even more so. And this man stepped out of the audience and he said, "You know what, miss? You should be at The Apollo Theater." I looked at that man like he was crazy. 

 

He said, "I'm serious." He said, "Here." He said, "Come here. At this time and on this date," I took the paper and I said, "Well, I couldn't lose. I might gain something." And on that day and at that precise time, I went to The Apollo Theater. They had a group performing up there called The Coasters. And the lead singer was Speedo. He would come down and interact with the audience. He would take the mic and he would put it to somebody, he'd say, "Whoa." And then, he put the mic to somebody's mouth, and they said nothing. He went to the next person. "Whoa." He got nothing. He came to me. He said, "Whoa." I said, "Wow." [audience laughter] 

 

He jumped back and looked at me and he grabbed my hand and he pulled me up on the stage. That's the first time in my life I had ever seen anybody do the twist one leg while they got the other leg extended in front of them. Well, I couldn't do that. So, I did the best thing I could do. I turned around and showed him my posterior jumping up one at a time. [audience laughter] He took off his shirt. But when he went to take off his pants, I screamed and I ran off the stage. I hurried up and got back to my seat. This usher came down with a flashlight, and he was shining in my face. I said, "Oh, gosh, did I do something wrong?" He said, "Miss, come here." I got up and I went to him. 

 

He said, "The manager wants to see you." And I thought to myself, "I'm going to get put out of theater. They're going to put me out. They're really going to put me out. And I paid to come in here." [audience laughter] But I went up to the manager brave, very brave. He said, "Are you working anywhere, miss?" I said, "No, sir." Now, here I'm 13 years old. And he said, "Would you like to appear here on stage with The Coasters for the rest of the week?" “Would I?” Yes.” He said, "You'll get paid Friday, just like they do." I said, "Thank you." He said, "You wouldn't have to go up on stage every show, but be here every day." I was true to form. I was there every day. I went up on the stage some of the times.

 

And one time I was up there on the stage and who made an appearance was James Brown himself. I said, "Wow." Then I really did something. [audience chuckles] I did my slide. [audience chuckles] I had trained myself so well that I could do the slide and make it into figure-of-eight. He looked at me, he said, "Wow, Lil’ mama." [audience laughter] That became my stage name. Lil’ Mama. And from there, I went to the Carver Ballroom, the Renaissance Ballroom, the Audubon Ballroom, the Baby Grand, Smalls Paradise. And I did my slide and my [unintelligible 00:10:12] and shake a tail feather. I even did the fly. 

 

I stopped doing my little side to side. That was off the hook. No more doing that. [audience chuckles] No more doing that. But you see, I never knew what happened to Tommy Johnson. But deep down in my heart, I thanked him for humiliated me the way he did, because it made me more determined. I mean, I was determined to show him that I was not going to be a little step, step, step, step, step. I was going to show him something, and I showed him. I showed the ones that held me back in that circle that I could do something, hold him back and let me do my thing. Wow, mama got a brand new bag. [audience laughter]