LIL' MO HOPES NEW CD SCORES: Elektra Records artist's new set drops in April.
by Ricardo Hazell

Lil' Mo
(Mar. 19, 2003) *Lil' Mo first made a name for herself as the voice behind some of hip hop's biggest hits, including Missy's "Hot Boyz," Jay-Z's "Parkin' Lot Pimpin'" and Ja Rule's "Put It On Me" and "I Cry." But it was with her acclaimed 2001 debut album, "Based On A True Story," featuring "Superwoman Pt. II," that she really made her presence known. Funny thing is all this time we were thinking Mo was the name her momma gave her.

"Mo, I just made it up. One of my homegirls came up with something like Cynthia Mo. And I thought that sounded like a porn star's name. So, I tried to come up with something that everybody would remember. Eventually I'm going to have to drop the Lil, but for now it's Lil' Mo. How could you forget the name Mo? Me and my mother have the same name so I was Junior and Sweet Pea, I had so many names and I had a different personality for each name, too. I'mma start calling myself Anita. That just sounds like a Grammy style name. That sounds sophisticated."

During our interview it became apparent that Lil' Mo really knows how to have a good time. No, not that type of good time. She really keeps the interview going with mad jokes and comical anecdotes. We asked her where she may have gotten that from.

"My dad used to be a comedian and he'll tell this story to this day where he's like 'Yeah, I opened up a show one time and Jay Leno was there' and I'm like 'Uh, OK, Sooo?!' When I finally did Jay Leno I was going to ask him, but my dad was like, 'He doesn't remember me.' So I was like, 'Why can't he remember you? Is he that famous that he can't remember 20 years ago?' (Yeah) I got that comedy from my dad. If you come to my house 'til this day there's always a joke session. We believe in laughing because not only does it burn calories, but it keeps ulcers away and it (alleviates) headaches, it's just good for you."

Though it helps to keep laughing there are often times in life when we have no other recourse but to let the tears flow. She may have done just that, after being bopped on top of her head by a crazed fan with a champagne bottle, after a San Francisco engagement in June of 2001. Lil' Mo told the EUR it changed her outlook on life. At first on a negative note, then on a positive one.

"I could see if it was a girl, and I was messing with her man and we had got into it or something like that and it was retaliation, but (it was someone I didn't know) and it was a man. You see how short I am? So, for him to do that, what was his point? When there's no reason, I think 'Why me?' But then I suddenly realized 'Why not me?' I'm happy and that's when people always want to bring you down."

To this day, Mo has no idea what the attack was all about, but as we said, that's when things changed.

"The guy just did it and ran, that was the sad part. That was really a wake up call for me. For every bad situation there's something good that comes out of it. After that I fired my whole staff, because they were stealing money and half the (bad) business things I was going through was because of them, but had I not been through what I had gone through I probably would have still had some jacked up situation, and ended up being a broke artist. But that (incident) made me want to take hold of my entire situation. Also, it was a good thing I had braids because that took some of the impact." (There's that Lil' Mo humor again.)

Since the incident, Mo has kept herself busy. She spent a year as a DJ at Baltimore station WXYV, ranking #1 during her air shift. She also sang on and appeared in the video for Angie Martinez's massive summer hit "If I Could Go." And, of course, she's been writing, arranging and recording her new album, "Meet The Girl Next Door." In fact, Mo wrote all but one of the album's tunes.

" ... Girl Next Door" producers include Missy Elliott, Precision, Chucky Thompson, Mega Hertz, Warren Campbell, Walter Milsap and Brian Cox. The first single is "4Ever," featuring Fabolous. The album also features the street track "10 Commandments," featuring Lil' Kim. "Meet The Girl Next Door" will be in stores next month, April 2003.

--Something missing here. Why aren't their any comments about her marriage and daughter? Those are also two beautiful things that have happened since that incident and in her life recently.