She spent much of her adolescent life on the streets, until, under the tutelage of fellow rapper The Notorious B.I.G., she began her music career in 1995 with the group Junior M.A.F.I.A., whose debut album Conspiracy generated three hit singles. In late 1996, she began her solo career with the album Hard Core, which was certified double platinum.
In 2005, Lil' Kim served a year long prison sentence for lying to a jury about her friends' involvement in a shooting four years earlier. During her incarceration, her fourth album The Naked Truth was released. She returned to the public spotlight in 2009 with an appearance on Dancing with the Stars, and has a fifth studio album in the works, although it has been stuck in Development Hell for some time due to legal issues
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In the media, she is well-known for her somewhat skimpy and outrageous outfits (although she has toned this down in recent years) and her sexually explicit lyrics.
Not to be confused with the Korean singer Lim Kim. WWE fans may also know her for singing Trish Stratus's third (and most recognisable) entrance theme "Time to Rock and Roll".
Studio Albums:
- Hard Core (1996)
- The Notorious K.I.M. (2000)
- La Bella Mafia (2003)
- The Naked Truth (2005)
Mixtapes:
- Ms. G.O.A.T. (2008)
- Black Friday (2011)
- Hard Core 2k14 (2014)
Remix Albums:
- The Dance Remixes (2006)
Collaborative Albums:
- Conspiracy (with Junior M.A.F.I.A.) (1995)
Tropes associated with Lil' Kim:
- Bilingual Bonus: She briefly raps in German in her collaboration with DJ Tomekk (who has since remixed for her), "Kimnotyze". She also briefly sings in Spanish in the second verse for "Lighters Up."
- Bowdlerise: The clean version of "Shut Up Bitch" is simply titled "Shut Up", with the lyrics being changed to "shut up, chick".
- Call-Back:
- The video for "No Time" features Kim and Sean Combs riding up and down on escalators. This is later referenced in the lyrics for "(When Kim Say) Can You Hear Me Now?" and "Whoa".
- The video for "Whoa" ends with Kim being thrown into the back of a police truck. The song "Stomp", by Maino featuring Kim as a guest artist, starts off where the "Whoa" video ends and has Maino breaking Kim out of the truck.
- Cliffhanger: "Aunt Dot" from The Notorious K.I.M. ends without the song's story being concluded ("'cause them other two girls, that's still on the menu/is the reason why the story is to be continued..."). There was apparently going to be a sequel, but it hasn't happened yet.
- Darker and Edgier: The Naked Truth is a lot angrier than her previous albums, due to her prison sentence.
- Double Vision: She plays four different versions of herself in the "How Many Licks?" video, three of them being lifesized edible dolls.
- Epic Rocking: "Tha Beehive" is just over 8 minutes long.
- Ethical Slut: In her appearance on Christina Aguilera's "Can't Hold Us Down".
- Even the Girls Want Her: In "Suck My Dick" she brags that she's "even got some of these straight chicks rubbin' their tits".
- Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: In the "Lady Marmalade" video, both her costumes feature her wearing elaborate necklaces, bracelets and earrings for maximum sparkle effect. She's also being offered another necklace in one sequence. It can't be glimpsed as clearly, but she's wearing several sparkly rings as well.
- Gangsta Rap: "Queen Bitch", "M.A.F.I.A. Land", "Fuck You", "Custom Made (Give it to You)", "Revolution", "Thug Luv", others.
- Grief Song: "Hold On", a dedication to The Notorious B.I.G. and featuring close friend Mary J. Blige. It's made even more heart-wrenching because Kim sounds like she's trying not to cry while recording the song. And unlike Sean Combs' megahit "I'll Be Missing You", she actually wrote this herself.
- Iconic Outfit: The purple catsuit she wore to the 1999 VMAs.
- Intentionally Awkward Title: "Suck My Dick"; "How Many Licks"; "Pissin' On 'Em"; "Pussy Callin'".
- Intercourse with You: "Dreams", "Not Tonight", "We Don't Need It", "How Many Licks", "Magic Stick", and "Kitty Box", among others.
- The Lost Lenore: The Notorious B.I.G. for Lil' Kim; "Hold On" on ''The Notorious K.I.M." is dedicated to him.
- My Girl Is Not a Slut:
- She featured on "Can't Hold Us Down" with Christina Aguilera, a song which heavily criticises sexual double standards.
- Not to mention the fact that several people have criticised her for writing sexually explicit lyrics. She herself has pointed out that her lyrics are no more shocking than what several male rappers have put out.
- New Sound Album: Well, in a mild way. A fair few of the songs on The Notorious K.I.M. are pop/electro-influenced, alongside the more "traditional" hip-hop sound of other songs on the album.
- Nipple and Dimed: She was a huge fan of pasties back in the day. Her most infamous (and oft-parodied) outfit was a purple catsuit with the right breast exposed, the nipple covered with a seashell pastie, which she wore to the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.
- Pretty in Mink: Loves to wear fur on the red carpet, her album covers, and her videos.
- Real Life Writes the Song: Several of her songs, including the incredibly honest and touching Biggie tribute, "Hold On".
- Really Gets Around: She paints herself as this several of her songs, although she has said in interviews that her in-song sex life is greatly and deliberately exaggerated from her real-life one, and also went on to say that this doesn't stop some listeners from believing that everything she raps about is true.
- The Rival: Foxy Brown and Nicki Minaj, and also Charli Baltimore to a lesser extent (although the latter was more a case of Unknown Rival than anything else, as Kim didn't seem to acknowledge Charli very much). As of Kim's release from prison, however, she stated that she no longer acknowledged Foxy. Foxy, on the other hand, continued to target Kim in her music.
- Sequel Album: As the title suggests, Hard Core 2k14 is a sequel mixtape to Hard Core.
- Sexy Surfacing Shot: In the music video for "Nasty One" there are several shots of her crawling out of a pool.
- The Smurfette Principle: She was the only female member of Junior M.A.F.I.A.
- Stripperiffic: She was rocking sequined dental floss when Lady Gaga was learning her division tables. This has been toned down in recent years, however.
- Take That!:
- Her often-noted rivalry with fellow rapper and former friend Foxy Brown has led Kim to take potshots at her in a few of her songs, such as "Notorious K.I.M.", apparently in response to Foxy's bashing of her in some of her songs. In the same song, she also took a swipe at another rapper, Shyne, for essentially trying to imitate The Notorious B.I.G..
- She also bashes former bandmates Junior M.A.F.I.A. a lot throughout The Naked Truth (a few of the members testified against her in court), and she also took a swipe at 50 Cent on the song "All Good" after they had a falling-out, although they have made peace with each other since then.
- Only the ongoing beef with Foxy can even compare to Kim and Nicki Minaj's vicious rivalry. Black Friday contains a lot of Nicki-bashing (including in the album cover, not to mention the title is a play on the latter's Pink Friday album), in response to a) the latter's song "Roman's Revenge" (which was claimed to be a diss record about Kim) and b) Kim's belief that Nicki is trying to emulate her style. Several of Kim's friends and fellow rappers think that the rivalry is pointless and saddening, others (including Mary J. Blige) believe the whole thing arose due to "crews" behind it, and many critics and a large portion of Kim's fanbase thought that Black Friday was taking things just a bit too far. The rivalry has gotten worse ever since.
- A much sadder example of this trope shows up in "Heavenly Father", in which Kim dedicates a few lines to an abusive ex-boyfriend.
Last nigga I was with - straight fuckin' loser/Niggas think 'cause you give 'em ya heart/They can dissect it and rip it apart
- True Companions: With Junior M.A.F.I.A. - back in the day in least. Nowadays, she has this kind of relationship with Sean Combs.I don’t agree with everything he does. I don’t always like him. I don’t necessarily think he’s a really good person all the time, but the Puff that I know can be very loving, very caring, very understanding at times, and very sweet.
- Underboobs: Taken to extremes in some of her earlier public outfits.
- Unusual Euphemism: Present in a few of her songs, notably "Magic Stick" and "Kitty Box" (in which the titles themselves are unusual euphemisms).
- What Could Have Been: [[Invoked]] In the early days of her career, she became pregnant with The Notorious B.I.G.'s child, which he told her to have aborted. In the song "Hold On," her tribute to Biggie, she wonders what life would have been like had she kept the baby.
