About

Kimberly Denise Jones was born July 11, 1974 in Brooklyn, New York, and is a multi-platinum music artist. She is better known as Lil’ Kim.

She is the only female rapper to have been awarded a 5 Mics rating from The Source, the second longest-running hip-hop industry magazine. She is also a Grammy Award winner, winning for her participation in “Lady Marmalade”.

Lil’ Kim’s parent separated when she was 10, and she and her brother went on to live with their father. She was thrown out of the house when she was a teenager, and spent most of her teenage years living on the streets. Then she met Christopher “B.I.G.” Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls, or The Notorious B.I.G. It was her association with him that opened the doors to her future success.

He was a big personal and artistic influence on her, and it was Wallace who introduced and promoted the group she was part of, The Junior M.A.F.I.A. The group and their first and only album, “Conspiracy” , had three singles chart highly or top the rap charts. About a year later Lil’ Kim went solo and recorded her debut album, “Hard Core”.

Her album was released in November of 1996, and debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200. It sold 1,000,000 copies in its first week, breaking the record for a female rapper’s highest debut at that time. The first single was a duet with Puff Daddy called “No Time”, and it spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Rap Charts, certified as platinum by the RIAA. More chart success came with “Crush On You”, and then in March of 1997, Wallace, the Notorious B.I.G., her mentor and secret lover, was shot and killed in LA.

The following years saw her continue her career under the management of Damion “D-Roc” Butler and his Roc Management. D-Roc was one of B.I.G.’s best friends. She toured and modelled for various pop culture and fashion companies during this time, and went on P.Diddy’s “No Way Out Tour”. She lauinched her own record label, Queen Bee Entertainment, and guested on a lot of artists’s records. Then in 2000, she put out “The Notorious K.I.M.” It reached No.4 on the Billboard Top 200, and No. 1 on the Hot R&B/ Hip-Hop chart, and was certified platinum by the RIAA.

The following year saw Kim team up with Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Maya to do the remake of “Lady Marmalade” for the “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack. It was released on April 2001 and stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five straight weeks. It also went to No.1 in 50 countries around the world, making it one of the biggest hits of that year. This made Lil’ Kim the first female rapper to hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it also gave Kim her first Grammy Award.

In 2003, she released “La Bella Mafia”, another critically-acclaimed album, rating 4.5 Mics with The Source and debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200. The album also gave her two Grammy Award nominations, for Best Female Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Collaboration. Her guest appearance on Christina Aguilera’s song “Can’t Hold Us Down” also got a Best pop Collaboration nomination.

While spending a year in prison for perjury, Lil’ Kim came out with another strong release, “The Naked Truth”, the album which made her the first female rapper to get a 5 Mics rating from The Source. This album debuted at No.6 on the charts this time, and though not selling as much her other albums in the US, still managed to move 2,000,000 copies worldwide.

Post-prison sentence, Lil’ Kim has spent her time getting back into the music scene by collaborating with other artists and participating in some concerts, as well as planning her next album.