Lil' Kim was born on July 11, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York. The rapper debuted as part of Biggie Smalls's group Junior M.A.F.I.A and released her solo debut album, Hard Core, in 1996. She found success in the 1990s and 2000s with hits like "Magic Stick," "Crush on You" and a remake of "Lady Marmalade." Kim served prison time in 2005-2006 for perjury, later releasing mixtapes and doing reality television work.
Early Life
Rapper Lil' Kim was born Kimberly Denise Jones on July 11, 1975, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, to mother Ruby Mae Jones and father Linwood Jones. Kim's parents sent her to catholic school—Queen of All Saints in Brooklyn—in an attempt to give their child a stable learning environment. However, the stability within their home came crumbling down after Kim's parents got divorced when she was 9 years old, forcing her to live with her father.
Kim had a highly tumultuous relationship with her dad, having once stabbed him with a pair of scissors. It was during this time that she dropped out of school and left home at age 16. She began spending more and more time with rappers and lyricists Lil’ Cease, Nino Brown and Capone, among others, who formed the group Junior M.A.F.I.A. (aka Junior Masters at Finding Intelligent Attitudes) under the leadership of the up-and-coming rapper Biggie Smalls.
Early Rap Career
With Biggie at the helm, Junior M.A.F.I.A. released a series of singles from their debut album, Conspiracy (1995). With the single "Player's Anthem," Lil' Kim was introduced to the world. The deep, provocative voice from such a petite rapper captivated audiences. She modeled her vocal flow after the very successful Biggie Smalls—adding grunts and ferocity—while her image revolved much more around her sex appeal.
Lil' Kim debuted as a solo artist with the release of Hard Core in 1996, continuing the raunchy and lyrical wordplay that the public had already heard on Conspiracy. The album was a success. Critics loved her raw, unapologetic style of rapping, which was much more gritty and vulgar than female MCs of the past like MC Lyte andQueen Latifah. However, around the same time as Kim's debut, the public was introduced to another edgy female rapper by the name of Foxy Brown. She and Kim would continue to feud for years, only adding to their popularity.
Relationship with Biggie Smalls
Biggie took Kim under his wing as an artist, but their relationship went deeper than that of a mentor and mentee, with an intimate relationship starting to bloom. The two were never officially a couple, but Biggie still claimed Kim as his own while maintaining various relationships with other women.
The year following Kim's Hard Core debut, Biggie was shot and killed in Los Angeles while she was preparing for a show in New York City. Upon hearing about his death, Kim struggled to reevaluate her life and career. She—along with the rest of Junior M.A.F.I.A.—was left frustrated and confused without Biggie to take the lead.
Kim put her sophomore album to the side after his death, instead choosing to be featured on songs byPuff Daddy and Mobb Deep.
Commercial Success
Kim's next album, The Notorious K.I.M., wasn't released until 2000. She continued to work withPuff Daddy on the album after collaborating with him during her hiatus in an attempt to stay connected to Biggie's legacy. The certified platinum album was well-received by audiences and critics, but failed to live up to her debut.
The celebrity status that Kim had developed would skyrocket with her next project. In March 2001, she remade Patti Labelle's "Lady Marmalade" with singers Christina Aguilera, Pink and Mya for theMoulin Rouge soundtrack. The Grammy-winning single was an immense hit, reaching No. 1 on the charts and solidifying Kim as one of the most sought after rappers—either male or female—of the early 21st century.
She released her next album, La Bella Mafia, in 2003, which featured collaborations with Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Kanye West.
Legal Troubles
Lil' Kim faced major issues with the law in the same year that would impact her life and career forever. In February 2001, gunshots were fired after she finished promoting her album outside of a New York City radio station. As a result of the altercation, one man was shot and critically wounded. When questioned about the event, Kim refused to talk to police about who accompanied her to the radio station or the cause of the shooting. When asked by a grand jury what her connection was to those who opened fire, she claimed that she was either not accompanying them or she didn't know them at all. (The shooting was suspected to have been a part of the prolonged feud between Kim and Foxy Brown.)
Several years after the shootout, Kim was convicted for perjury and conspiracy in 2005 for lying about her involvement to law officials and a grand jury. Security footage proved that the rapper gave false information about her relationship with the entourage that accompanied her to the New York City radio station and opened fire. For the charges, Kim faced up to 20 years imprisonment, but was only sentenced to jail time of one year and a day, with a $50,000 fine. Her fourth album, The Naked Truth, was released at the beginning of her sentence.
Mixtapes and Minaj
After serving her 366-day sentence, Lil' Kim was released from prison and struggled to get her career back on track. In 2008, she left Atlantic Records with the intention of releasing her own music independently. The same year, she dropped the mixtape Ms. G.O.A.T. – Greatest of All Time, which failed to gain much public attention. Kim also branched out into reality television, acting as a judge on the series Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (2008) and competing in Dancing with the Stars (2009). She later released her second mixtape, Black Friday (2011), in response to her feud with popular female rapper Nicki Minaj, who earlier released the albumPink Friday (2010).
Kim confirmed in January 2011 that she would be releasing her next album which is currently untitled in 2013. She is expected to make a guest appearance on a track from 50 Cent's upcoming studio album as well as Dr. Dre's 2011 album Detox. Kim released her second mixtape, titled Black Friday, on February 14, 2011. The video for the title track was released on February 16, 2011. The mixtape received mostly negative reviews from critics. It was made available for purchase via PayPal with the first 100,000 copies sold being signed by the rapper. In May 2011, Kim performed in South Africa as part of the music festival ZarFest alongside Fat Joe, Timbaland and Ciara. On June 19, 2011, Kim performed alongside G-Unit member Shawty Lo and hinted a possible working relationship with G-Unit Records. That same month the song Kim was featured on, along with Rick Ross, titled "Anything (To Find You)", by R&B singer Monica was leaked. The song, which samples The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya?", initially featured just Kim, but her second verse was removed to make room for Ross. Her vocals were then removed fully due to contractual issues with B.I.G's estate. In August 2011, Kim performed four dates in Australia as part of the WinterBeatz Festival alongside Fabolous, Mario, 50 Cent and G-Unit. During the August, 17 date in Perth, she joined 50 Cent on stage for a performance of "Magic Stick". It marked the first time the pair had performed the song together. On November 28, 2011 Kim released a buzz single called "I Am Not the One". She also announced that she would release an EP, but it was later shelved for unknown reasons.
2012–present: Fifth studio album, Hard Core 2K13, and More legal trouble
In the summer of 2011, Kim began recording material for her fifth studio album, as a restriction banning her from releasing new material as a result of her settlement with Trackmasters was lifted.
On Valentine's Day, 2012, Kim released the song "If You Love Me" produced by "Prince Saheb" of Knockout Entertainment as a gift to her fans. That same month it was announced she would make her return to the stage on BET's 'Rip the Runway.'It marked the her first televised performance in years. In March 2012, during an interview with MTV's Sucker Free, Kim revealed that contract issues with production duo Trackmasters were the reason behind her album delay, saying "...contractually, by the courts, I could not record any music - I wasn't supposed to put any music out." On March 23, 2012, the song "Keys To The City", a collaboration with Young Jeezy, was leaked to the internet. Kim first mentioned about the song on an interview with MTV's RapFix, saying “I have a song with another celebrity person that I know the world and my fans are gonna love... It's vintage Kim mixed with the new Kim.” During the same RapFix Kim also revealed another song, titled "I'm Ready", which she hopes to do with rapper 50 Cent, whom she did "Magic Stick" with. Kim also commented on the direction of her music, saying she was in "Kanye West mode", adding "...You do whatever you want to do ...it's all about taking chances". On when her album would be released, Kim said “I would love to put one out this year, this summer, going into next fall".
Kim kicked off her Return of the Queen Tour on May 17, 2012 to positive reviews, and during a stop in Chicago Kim hinted at a much larger scale tour with Missy Elliott and Eve once her own tour finished. Kim is expected to release her fifth studio album, which is currently untitled, in 2013. In a radio interview at 99 Jamz, Kim stated that her upcoming book, "The Price of Loyalty", is on hold to coincide with the release of the album. It was also revealed in 2012 that Kim had signed upcoming female rapper Tiffany Foxx to her label, IRS Records. Together, the two have released two songs, "Twisted" and "Jay-Z," both of which have accompanying music videos.
On March 6, 2013, Kim returned to Rap Fix Live and revealed that Bangladesh would be executive producing her album with her, and that she had signed a business deal with former Chairman and CEO of EMI Records, Charles Koppelman. During an interview with XXL on April 26, 2013, Kim revealed that she does not have a name for the album yet, but the first official single would be out by mid year. Kim has described the single, produced by Bangladesh, as "different" and "sweet dessert".
On July 11, 2013, Kim released the Rockwilder produced single "Looks Like Money" as a free download to her fans on her birthday. On July 26, 2013 Kim announced & released the cover art for a new mixtape she has been working on entitled Hard Core 2K13 which will also serve as a sequel to her critically acclaimed debut album, Hard Core. The mixtape was originally set to be released on October 31, 2013, but for unknown reasons, the release date was pushed back to November 29, 2013. Kim did release a single from the mixtape entitled "Dead Gal Walking," which is available to her fans via her Twitter music page. On the new release date for the mixtape, however, Kim and her team failed to meet the deadline, and the release of the mixtape was delayed again. To make up for the delay, Lil' Kim released another single titled "I am Kimmy Blanco" to the public via her Twitter page, along with the track list of the mixtape. The track list revealed collaborations with artists such as French Montana, Miley Cyrus, Jadakiss and Yo Gotti. The new release date for the mixtape is not yet known.
On January 17, 2014, Canadian make-up artist and photographer Samantha Ravndahl filed a lawsuit against Lil' Kim, claiming that Kim had stolen an image from her Reddit page to use for her "Dead Gal Walking" single artwork. Ravndahl first tried amicably resolving the issue soon after the single was released in November by asking Kim to remove the image from her social media sites, but after continued social media posts containing the artwork, she followed through with a lawsuit. The stolen image depicts Ravndahl herself modeling a "zombie-style" make-up design of her own creation. In the lawsuit complaint, Ravndahl's attorney's claim that: "Ravndahl believes that Lil' Kim, acting through her agent, Whosay, Inc., slapped Lil' Kim's name and copyright notice over Ravndahl's face and makeup design on Ravndahl's photograph before distributing it all over the web." The case has been filed through a Federal District Court in California and Ravndahl is seeking $150,000 in damages from Lil' Kim, plus attorney fees. A jury is being requested in the trial. Lil' Kim has not made any public statements concerning the issue other than crediting her graphic designer on her Twitter page as well as stating in an interview to XXL Magazine, “I don’t know what the heck is going on, if there were something going on, my team would know better than I would. You have to get that from my team because I really don’t know what’s going on.”
On February 18, 2014, Lil' Kim released another single from her much-anticipated Hard Core Mixtape. The single, entitled "Haterz," features lyrics by Kim and rapper B-Ford and was released on her Twit Music page where fans could download it.