Lil' Kim

views updated

LIL' KIM

Born: Kimberly Jones; New York, New York, 11 July 1977

Genre: Hip-Hop

Best-selling album since 1990: The Notorious K.I.M. (2000)

Hit songs since 1990: "No Time," "Not Tonight," "How Many Licks"

Diminutive hip-hop queen Lil' Kim became one of the most distinctive female voices in late 1990s rap music. In contrast to pro-women rappers from the 1980s like Queen Latifah, Lil' Kim's explicit, sexual raps use the language of unquenchable male sexual desire to describe her own sexuality. She thus turns rap's misogyny against itself. In the four-year lapse between her first two albums, during which her lover and mentor Biggie Smalls was murdered, Lil' Kim established herself as one of hip-hop's prime cultural icons.

Lil' Kim, born Kimberly Jones, grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents divorced when Jones was nine years old, and she soon found herself in her father's custody. By Jones's account her father, a bus driver and member of the Air Force Reserve, was a strict disciplinarian. She ran away in her early teens and for a handful of years lived an itinerant lifestyle, staying with a series of boyfriends or on the streets. This ended when she was discovered by up-and-coming rapper Biggie Smalls, also called the Notorious B.I.G. (born Christopher Wallace). Jones quickly became the lone female member of the Junior M.A.F.I.A. (Masters at Finding Intelligent Attitudes), a group assembled by Smalls. It was here that 4-foot-11 Jones became Lil' Kim.

Lil' Kim launched her solo career following the success of the Junior M.A.F.I.A. release Conspiracy (1995) and their single "Player's Anthem." Her debut album, Hard Core (1996), was released on Smalls's Undeas Recordings, and recorded by a group of producers that included Sean "Puff Daddy" (later "P. Diddy") Combs. At the time, Hard Core was the best-selling debut rap album by a woman, and its first single, "No Time," charted. The lyrics on Hard Core depict a sexually liberated, confident woman. The song "Dreams" begins with a group of women sitting around discussing which R&B singer they find most sexually desirable, turning the tables on a popular hip-hop trope.

The murder of Smalls in 1997 hit Lil' Kim hard. This, combined with the theft of several tracks from her new album, pushed her sophomore release back two years. In the interval Lil' Kim stayed in the public eye. When it was finally released, The Notorious K.I.M. (2000) confirmed Lil' Kim's reputation as one of the most explicit rappers around. On the single "How Many Licks," she describes her many lovers. Whereas Hard Core was an explicit celebration of female sexuality, The Notorious K.I.M. finds the artist in charge, demanding oral sex, multiple orgasms and, above all, control. Her star continued to rise—along with pop artists Pink, Christina Aguilera, and Mya she released a remake of the 1970s classic "Lady Marmalade," whose sexy video won MTV's Video of the Year in 2001.

Critics maintain it is difficult to determine whether Lil' Kim's explicit raps mark the heights of female sexual liberation or the depths of self-objectification. While other female rappers, including her arch-rival Foxy Brown, write sexually graphic lyrics, Lil' Kim has distinguished herself by accentuating the discord between her small body and larger than life voice.