Lil Kim, aka Queen Bee, was born Kimberley Denise Jones on July 11, 1975
in Brooklyn, New York. A childhood friend of Inga Marchand, (later to
become Foxy Brown (born 1979), Kim shared
dreams of becoming a famous music artist. But she had a rougher road to
follow. Her parents broke up when she was nine, and her army Sergeant
father laid down the rules. Finally, the rebellious Kim was thrown out
of the house while still in her teens. She became just another homeless
teenage youth, hanging out with friends, then running drugs to do what
it took to survive. As fortune had it, the 4-foot 11-inch 100-pound
girl was to meet up with a 6-foot 300-pound Christopher Wallace, three
years her senior, who was to become Notorious B.I.G.. Wallace had been a drug
dealer who was using his funds to finance his own musical ambitions.
The mutual attraction of waif and giant was immediate, with Biggy
recognizing the rhyming skills of his new protege. He added her to his
hip-hop family, the Junior M.A.F.I.A. She first started by contributing
to their album debut, "Conspiracy." But with Biggie's financing and
support, Lil Kim was on her way to becoming a solo artist. In 1996, she
released her debut album, "Hard Core," featuring Puffy Combs and
Jermaine Dupri, a producer who helped promote the career of many
artists, including
Alicia Keys. The album spawned the hit single, "No Time."
Hard-rhyming female rappers were a sudden trend with Lil Kim and Foxy
Brown leading the way. Their style and content was in-your-face and
street tough, which made the mainstream artists look like Romper Room
kids. While Lil Kim did what she had to survive and ultimately excel,
she was criticized for being a bad role model. The feisty girl with a
reputation for coloring
her hair, responded with: "Parents need to control what their kids
listen to ... I can't watch everybody's children. That's too much
responsibility for one human being."
The following year (1997), Lil Kim's mentor, B.I.G. was murdered,
testing Lil Kim's ability "to stand on her own feet." The result:
Kim's albums broke down the doors
to more female rap artists to follow, including Jacki-O, Trina, and Remy
Ma. But art and the real life were always at odds. The artist
remained barely a step ahead of the law. Well aware of her fan-base,
preparations were made for her second album, "Notorious K.I.M." (2000),
including an appeal to the male gay market. "Gay people love it when a
person goes over the top, when a person shows that they don't care."
Knowing how to dress and how to shock, Lil Kim could always reinvent herself,
much like the savvy Madonna. It was at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards
that her half-finished jump suit and well-placed pasty inspired a tender
fondling by co-presenter, Diana Ross.
Lil Kim was well aware of her image as a media favorite. The media
loved her because she could be so shocking, and she never failed to
disappoint the hordes. More of Lil Kim involved celebrity
status than craft. Another three years passed before her next album,
"La Bella Mafia" (2003). There were feuds. Kim was in the midst of
it with fellow female rappers (Foxy Brown) and 50-cent. Everybody
exchanged insults then made up. The insults took place on the albums,
which made them so much greater and more permanent. It was just giving
the media what they wanted. Ultimately the feuds, the brushes with the law,
and an emphasis on redesigning her body all had their
impact on the little girl from Brooklyn. The
musical output declined, the law was been hot on her trail, and time
and body sculpting operations transformed her to the point
where she was almost unrecognizable to her early fans.
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