On April 24, Lil' Kim posted a very shocking collage photo on her Instagram. No, this photo wasn't of her announcing a world tour; it wasn't even provocative. It was a picture of her posing with her messy hair and duck face, but it is hard not to notice the fact she looks so different. Down to her new blue eye color, blonde hair, and noticeably lighter skin. Social media went into a frenzy, and reports started to speculate that Lil' Kim has been bleaching her skin.

If you guys don't know who Lil' Kim is she's one of the most iconic female rappers in the music industry. She had hits such as "The Jump Off", "Lighters Up", and "Crush On You." Lil' Kim has been known for changing her look in the past through the use of plastic surgery.

In 2000, in an interview with Newsweek, Lil' Kim said: "All my life, men have told me I wasn't pretty enough- even the men I was dating. And I'd be like 'Well, why are you with me, then?' It's always been men putting me down just like my dad. To this day when somebody says I'm cute, I can't see it. I don't see it, no matter what anybody says."

She went on to say, "I have a low self-esteem and I always have. Guys always cheated on me with women who are European looking. You know, the long hair type. Really beautiful women women that left me thinking, 'How can I compete with that?' Being a regular black girl wasn't good enough."

Colorism is the notion that those with lighter or fair skin tone are treated better than those with darker skin tones.

In her life, it is clear to see that there are many people who tell her that she is not good enough or pretty enough. It makes even harder to deal with being in the public eye since it adds another standard of having to "look the part."

Lil' Kim didn't wake up one day saying that she wants to have lighter skin. This has been years and years of being degraded so much that in her mind looking lighter she is not only "beautiful," but she is accepted.

Let's think about where this self hate has come from. We as a society have done a horrible job in protecting darker skinned people. As a little girl, I remember sometimes at night I would pray to whoever was up above that when I woke up in the morning I would be white. This was because everything I saw in the media, books and even school showed that being white meant that you were beautiful, and that was all I wanted. The sad thing is that many little girls and boys have this idea of "the lighter the better."

The Clark Doll Experiment was a test done in 1939 by Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife Mamie Clark. The test had children from the ages three to seven pick between a black or white doll. They asked the children questions such as "pick up the doll that looks bad,"show me the doll that you like the best,"show me the nice doll" etc. All the children that were interviewed picked up the white doll, and gave the doll only positive attributes. While the darker doll was seen as "bad" and "ugly."

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It is not easy being a person with darker skin in this society. What we need to start doing as a society is to acknowledge that this is a big problem. We need to break away from this cookie cutter mold of beauty. We need to be uplifting all types of people and showing diversity in the media.

Let's raise our sons and daughters and let them know that they are beautiful: no matter what skin they are in.