Lil Kim Interesting Facts

Whenever we get to do a research on an artist in rap music, we go through the regular music search or better yet rap music search routine. We try to determine who contribute the most to the current state of rap music. One of the main contributors is Lil Kim. Her contribution to rap music will be outline more

in the following paragraphs and you will see how it effectively allowed rap music to be recognized as diverse.

In 2005, did Lil Kim serve a one year prison sentence for perjury?

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To a true Lil Kim fan, these questions are fairly simple but when we were compiling our rap music search or researches, we try to incorporate many elements of easy and hard questions. To better help you with questions relating to Lil Kim, we have included her Bio below. Please read and reread because most of the information gathered from our music search will help you in the weekly contest.

After making her presence known on Junior M.A.F.I.A. 's debut album, Conspiracy , Lil' Kim launched a solo career in 1996 with the release of her first record, Hard Core . As the album's title implies, Lil' Kim was a rarity among female rappers — one that not only concentrated on edgy hardcore rap but also explicit

sexuality, two territories that had long been the province of male rappers. Of course, Lil' Kim's near-pornographic sexuality and hard-edged rhythms made her an anomaly within hip-hop, but Hard Core proved that she was no novelty, as it garnered positive reviews and strong sales.

A native of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn , Lil' Kim was raised by her parents until they split up when she was nine years old. Following their separation, she lived with her father, yet he threw her out of the house when she was a teenager. As a teen, she lived with her friends and, occasionally, on the streets. Eventually, she and her rhyming skills came to the attention of Biggie Smalls , who helped her cultivate her career. Smalls helped her become a member of Junior M.A.F.I.A. , and Lil' Kim was a key part of the group's hit debut single, "Player's Anthem." Lil' Kim also made a big impression on the remainder of Junior M.A.F.I.A. 's 1995 debut album, Conspiracy .

Following the release of Conspiracy , Lil' Kim appeared on records by Mona Lisa , the Isley Brothers , Total , and Skin Deep . For her debut album, she worked with a variety of producers, including Sean "Puffy" Combs , High Class , Jermaine Dupri , and SKI . The result, entitled Hard Core , was released in late 1996. Lil' Kim's marketing campaign for the album was quite provocative — she was dressed in a skimpy bikini and furs in the advertisements, as well as the album covers — but instead of resulting in a backlash, the album became a hit, debuting at number 11 on the pop charts. The first single from the album, "No Time," a duet with Sean "Puffy" Combs , became a number one rap single. The long-awaited Notorious K.I.M. followed in 2000, and then came La Bella Mafia in 2003. Her fourth album, 2005's The Naked Truth , was released around the time she began serving a one-year prison sentence for perjury.

Ice-T finally landed a major-label record deal with Sire Records in 1987, releasing his debut album, Rhyme Pays . On the record, he is supported by DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam , who helped create the rolling, spare beats and samples that provided a backdrop for the rapper's charismatic rhymes, which were mainly

party-oriented; the record wound up going gold. That same year, he recorded the theme song for Dennis Hopper 's Colors , a film about inner-city life in Los Angeles . The song — also called "Colors" — was stronger, both lyrically and musically, with more incisive lyrics, than anything he had previously released. Ice-T formed his own record label, Rhyme Syndicate (which was distributed through Sire/Warner) in 1988, and released Power . Power was a more assured and impressive record, earning him strong reviews and his second gold record. Released in 1989, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say established him as a true hip-hop superstar by matching excellent abrasive music with fierce, intelligent narratives, and political commentaries, especially about hip-hop censorship.

Two years later, Ice-T began an acting career, starring in the updated blaxploitation film New Jack City ; he also recorded "New Jack Hustler" for the film. "New Jack Hustler" became one of the centerpieces of 1991's O.G.: Original Gangster , which became his most successful album to date. O.G. also featured a metal track called "Body Count" recorded with Ice-T's band of the same name. Ice-T took the band out on tour that summer, as he performed on the first Lollapalooza tour. The tour set-up increased his appeal with both alternative music fans and middle-class teenagers. The following year, the rapper decided to released an entire album with the band, also called Body Count .

Body Count proved to be a major turning point in Ice-T's career. On the basis of the track "Cop Killer" — where he sang from the point-of-view of a police murderer — the record ignited a national controversy; it was protested by the NRA and police activist groups. Time Warner Records initially supported Ice-T, yet they refused to release his new rap album, Home Invasion , on the basis of the record cover. Ice-T and the label parted ways by the end of the year. Home Invasion was released on Priority Records in the spring of 1993 to lukewarm reviews and sales. Somewhere along the way, Ice-T had begun to lose most of his original hip-hop audience; now he appealed primarily to suburban white teens. In 1994, he wrote a book and released the second Body Count album, Born Dead , which failed to stir up the same controversy as the first record — indeed, it failed to gain much attention of any sort. Nevertheless, Body Count was successful in clubs and Ice-T continued to tour with the band.

In the summer of 1996, Ice-T released his first rap album since 1993, Return of the Real . The album was greeted by mixed reviews and it failed to live up to commercial expectations. 7th Deadly Sin followed in 1999. Ice-T then returned to acting, taking a role on NBC's Law & Order : Special Victims Unit playing, ironically, a police officer.