Born on July 11, 1975), Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and singer. She is the first female rapper to have a #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, Lady Marmalade.
Lil' Kim was born Kimberly Denise Jones in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. At the age of 9, her parents got separated, and her father raised her till he expelled her from home. After all the drama at home, she decided to live with friends, family or on the streets. While struggling through her personal life, Kim met rapper Notorious B.I.G., who was a key figure in both her personal and artistic life, particularly when Wallace had gained popularity and influence through his relationship with Bad Boy Records.
In 1994, B.I.G. was instrumental in introducing and promoting the Brooklyn based group, Junior M.A.F.I.A., which included Lil' Kim. The first and only album of the group was titled Conspiracy. 3 hit singles came from Conspiracy: "Player's Anthem" (peaked at #7 on the Billboard [Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs] chart and #2 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart), "I Need You Tonight" (#43 R&B, #12 Rap), and "Get Money" (#17 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 R&B, #2 Rap). The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Conspiracy Gold on December 6, 1995, thereby marking sales of 500,000 units. "Player's Anthem" was Gold, and "Get Money" went Platinum (sales of a million units).
After one year with Junior M.A.F.I.A., Jones began a solo career by making guest performances on R&B albums and recording her debut album, Hard Core, which was released in 1996. The single, "Crush on You", reached #6 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the rap chart. A remix of the album's track "Not Tonight" saw Lil' Kim team up with Missy Elliott, Angie Martinez, Da Brat and Left Eye of TLC. The song was part of the soundtrack to the Martin Lawrence movie Nothing To Lose, nominated for a Grammy Award, and certified Platinum. In one stockholders' meeting of Warner Bros. Records, activist C. Delores Tucker criticized the label "for producing this filth," referring to perceived graphic sexual content in Kim's lyrics.
From 1998 to 2000, Lil Kim continued her road to stardom under the management of B.I.G.'s best friend, Damion "D-Roc" Butler's "Roc Management", thereby making tour and modeling for various fashion and pop culture companies including Candies, Versace, Iceberg, and Baby Phat. In 1998, she performed in P. Diddy's "No Way Out" tour. In the same year, she launched her own label Queen Bee Entertainment and even though she did not relase an album of her she was seen on dozens of remixes and guest appearances on other artist's records. On June 27, 2000, Kim released her second album The Notorious K.I.M. The album marked a new image and revamped look for the rapper. Despite the limited success of its singles, the album reached #4 on the Billboard 200, and #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart selling 160,000 copies in its opening week. It was certified platinum by the RIAA.
In the year 2001, Lil Kim teamed up with Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Mýa to remake "Lady Marmalade", which was originally written about a bordello in New Orleans and performed by the group Labelle (which included diva Patti LaBelle) 25 years earlier. The song was recorded for the Moulin Rouge! film soundtrack, released in April 2001, and stayed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks. The song also went to #1 in 50 countries around the world. This was a big accomplishment for female rap, as well as for Kim, who scored her first #1 Hot 100 hit and became the first female rapper in history to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. "Lady Marmalade" also garnered Kim her first Grammy Award.
2003 was a watershed in the career of Lil Kim. In the year 2003, Lil Kim recorded a new entrance theme for then World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Women's Champion Trish Stratus entitled, "Time to Rock 'n Roll", which was used during broadcasts, until Stratus' retirement. The single was released on WWE Anthology, a compilation of entrance theme music to various professional wrestling superstars.
On March 4, 2003, Lil Kim released her 3rd critically acclaimed album, La Bella Mafia. Highly rated (4.5 mics) by music magazine The Source, La Bella Mafia spawned the hit "The Jump Off" featuring Mr. Cheeks, which climbed to number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single "Magic Stick", feat. 50 Cent, hit #2 on the Hot 100 without a video ever being shot.
La Bella Mafia debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200. Kim was nominated for five Source Awards and won two ("Female Hip-Hop Artist of the Year", and "Female Single of the Year"). This album also got two Grammy Award nominations: Best Female Rap Solo Performance ("Came Back For You") and Best Rap Collaboration ("Magic Stick"). She was also nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with singer Christina Aguilera for the song "Can't Hold Us Down", from Aguilera's album Stripped.
Greg Thomas, an English professor at Syracuse University, began teaching "Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen B@#$H 101 -- The Life and Times of Lil' Kim". Kim herself was a guest speaker at the school. Professor Thomas considered Kim's lyrics "the art with the most profound sexual politics I've ever seen anywhere."David Horowitz criticized the course as "academic degeneracy and decline".
Lil' Kim also made an appearance on the multi-platform videogame Def Jam: Fight for NY. Kim provided voice-overs for her part in the storyline, where the player may fight an opponent to have Lil Kim as his girlfriend.
Lil Kim brought out her 4rth album, The Naked Truth, on September 27, 2005, while serving a federal prison sentence. It earned her a 5 mic rating from The Source, making her the only female rapper to ever receive two 5 mic ratings in her career. The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 charts, giving Kim her Third Top 10 debut on the charts. The Naked Truth didn't sell as well as her previous works, selling less than 400,000 copies. Kim has said that her jail sentence left her with no time to promote the project. There have been many rumors about a re-release of Truth but to no avail.
The music video for The Naked Truth's first single, "Lighters Up" was number one on BET's 106 & Park for two weeks. "Lighters Up", was a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. The single also reached #76 on the German Single Chart, #12 on the UK Top 75 and #4 on the Finland Single Chart. The second single, "Whoa" was released on February 17, 2006. It reached No. 22 on Airplay. On March 9, BET made the premiere of the show Lil Kim: Countdown to Lockdown, which was filmed before Kim headed to jail. The show became the highest rated premiere in BET history, with 1.7 million viewers.
In May 2006, Debbie Harry released a Lil' Kim tribute song called "Dirty and Deep" in protest of her conviction. The song is available free from the Deborah Harry Home Page.
On June 6, 2006, Lil' Kim The Dance Remixes was released.
She is currently planning to create her own autobiographical film and working her 5th studio album, which is tilted Vintage and is to be released in the coming months.
On March 17, 2005, Lil Kim was convicted of 3 counts of conspiracy and 1 count of perjury for lying to a Federal grand jury about her friends' involvement in a 2001 shooting outside the Hot 97 studios in Manhattan.
During the trial of her co-manager, Damion "D-Roc" Butler, and her bodyguard, Suif "Gutta" Jackson, a former member of the hip-hop group Junior M.A.F.I.A, she testified not to have known they were at the scene. However, video footage from a security camera placed all three at the scene, exiting the building. This directly contravened testimony before the grand jury.
Butler and Jackson have since pled guilty to gun charges. Jackson was sentenced, in U.S. District Court, to twelve years in federal prison as part of plea bargain in which he admitted to firing at least twenty rounds during the incident. The length of the sentence was said to have been influenced by his previous gun-related convictions.
In July 2005, Kim was sentenced to a one-year-and-a-day, thirty days home detention upon release from custody and three years of probation. She requested to serve her time at prison camp in Connecticut in order to be close to her mother, however, she was ordered to report to the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia instead where she served the entirety of her sentence.
Regarding her sentence, an attorney for Kim stated, "A year and a day is actually less than a year sentence, because according to federal sentencing guidelines, if there's an extra day, time is credited to you". A parole bill was filed that reduced her sentence. She was released on September 19, 2006, after serving approximately 10 months.
Lil' Kim has reportedly stated that Dancing With The Stars was her and her cellmate's favorite show while she was incarcerated.
Kim and Derek Hough were partnered on season 8 of Dancing with the Stars. Their first performance took place on March 9, 2009. During Week 1, she performed a Cha-Cha-Cha to the song "Nasty", which earned praise from the judges. Week 2, she and Hough performed a Quickstep to the Marilyn Monroe staple "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."[22] In week 3, they performed a Samba to "Remedio P'al Corazon", once again receiving praise, and prompting judge Len Goodman to call her "bionic booty." During week 4, they performed the Argentine Tango, garnering them the first 10 score of the season from Bruno Tonioli, despite mild criticism from Len Goodman regarding a lack of sensuality.
In week 5, Kim and Hough performed a Viennese Waltz which earned good feedback from the judges, and which earned Kim and Derek the encore performance spot on the results show. In week 6, they danced the jive which earned them the highest scores for the night.
In week 7, Kim and Hough performed a Rumba, where Kim was criticized for having toned down her performance too much, commenting that they wanted to see her usual sexy persona back on the dancefloor. This knocked the couple down to fifth place with the judges. However, in week 8 Kim and Hough rebounded with their Paso Doble earning the highest score for the night. In addition on week 8 she was part of "Team Tango".
In week 9, she was eliminated from the show despite high scores from the judges.
