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Lil Kim music biography continued...

in Brooklyn, New York, Kimberly Denise Jones ran away from home as a teen and crashed at friends' apartments before she met her mentor and father figure, Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls and Notorious B.I.G. While Kim worked as a salesperson at Bloomingdale's, her friends discovered that she could, in fact, rap. Biggie encouraged her to pursue a rapping career, and cast her as a member of the rap group Junior M.A.F.I.A., signed under Biggie's Undeas label. Lil Kim showed she had talent on the group's debut album Conspiracy, and in 1996 she departed for a solo career. Her solo debut, Hard Core debuted at number 11 on the Billboard charts, and became a critical and commercial success. With hit singles such as "No Time" and "Queen Bitch," Hard Core showcased Lil' Kim as a sexually explicit, uninhibited woman and a star female rapper. After Notorious B.I.G.'s murder, Lil Kim went into self-imposed exile for several years. Finally, in June of 2000, Lil' Kim followed up Hard Core with her long-awaited album, Notorious K.I.M., which went on to be certified platinum and demonstrate that Lil' Kim was on the rap scene to stay.



In 2001, Lil' Kim came out with her biggest single yet, Lady Marmalade," which she made with fellow singers Pink, Christina Aguilera, Mya, and Missy Elliott. It topped Billboard's Top 40 Tracks chart for nine weeks and garnered her a Teen Choice Award for Choice Song of the Summer, two MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year and Best Video from a Film, and a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. In 2003, Lil' Kim continued her run by releasing her third album, La Bella Mafia, which debuted at number 5 on Billboard charts. In 2005 Lil' Kim was convicted of lying to a federal grand jury about a 2001 shooting outside a Manhattan radio station. She was fined $50,000 and served 10 months in federal prison before being released in July of 2006. Determined not to let the setback slow her, she came out with another chart busting album—2008's Miss G.O.A.T.—which proved that you can't keep a determined sister down.