Back in 2013, Lil Debbie had major beef with Miley Cyrus. That’s when Cyrus started twerking and released her breakthrough video for “We Won’t Stop.” The whole thing was a little too close to what Lil Debbie had already done in her “Ratchets” video, which featured the Northern-California rapper doing her thing in front of an all-black group of back-up dancers. It’s the point where Cyrus began to draw criticism for her appropriation of African-American culture, but as Lil Debbie sees it, Cyrus was stealing something that belonged to her.
To be sure, Lil Debbie, whose real name is Jordan Capozzi, had already staked out her ground in white-girl-rap territory. She’d teamed up with Kreayshawn in 2011 on “Gucci Gucci” as part of the backing duo White Girl Mob along with V-Nasty. That gig didn’t last long, though, as Kreayshawn booted Lil Debbie out of the group the next year.
That opened the door to a solo career, and Lil Debbie went through it. She cranked out singles such as “Squirt” with RiFF RaFF and “Gotta Ball” with V-Nasty. After that, came a deluge of mixtapes and EPs, including 2013’s Queen D, 2014’s California Sweetheart Parts 1 and 2 and 2015’s Home Grown. The full-length album Debbie dropped in 2016.
It’s been a busy few years for Lil Debbie, as she’s established herself as something much more than background scenery. During that same period, Miley Cyrus’ twerk-and-rap act has been curiously quiet. Maybe that means that she’s retreated from the real estate that belonged to Lil Debbie and her crew all along.