Before Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim (Kimberly Denise Jones) was the female recording artist wowing photographers on the red carpet. She was the one who everyone waited to see what she was wearing. She was the media and fashion house darling. Designers battled to drape her in their latest creations and magazines scrambled to land her on their covers. Lil Kim created a brand and everyone who was anyone wanted to be in the Lil Kim business. Hit records and movie cameos cemented Kim as a top player in entertainment. But with her meteoric rise to the top, the problems piled on, just like her former mentor and lover Notorious BIG said 'More Money, More Problems'. On March 17, 2005, Kim was convicted of three counts of conspiracy and one count of perjury for lying to a Federal grand jury about her friends' involvement in a 2001 shooting outside the Hot 97 studios in Manhattan.
Kim did the street honorable thing and went to jail due to her refusal to share anything with authorities. But being Lil' Kim, she capitalized off the reality that she was about to do time in prison. On March 9, BET premiered the show 'Lil Kim: Countdown to Lockdown', which was filmed before Kim headed to prison. The show became the highest rated premiere in BET history, with 1.7 million viewers. Since her release from prison, Kim has been on a nonstop effort to make a full comeback. But then Nicki Minaj happened and all her juice was sucked away from this new artist who was clearly inspired by her. What followed was a back and forth between Kim and Nicki via social networking sites like twitter, where they both called each other names and Kim demanded respect from the newbie. Kim found herself in a position where many artists find themselves at some point in their career after a long hiatus. She was being over shadowed by a new over the top female rapper who clearly built her image and style based on her (Lil Kim's) blue print. Kim's fans have been teased with new music and a new album for over a year now but nothing has officially surfaced. She does keep herself out there by attending high profile fashion and music industry events but not as much as she used to. Over the years she has physically changed her appearance drastically which has some of her friends and family members worried that she may be going to far with plastic surgery. She is now often compared to plastic surgery addicts like Jocelyn Wildenstein and Amanda Lepore which has halted offers from Hollywood and other potential business deals. But none of this seems to have Lil Kim worried, or if it is, she isn't showing it. She has been busy at work on her long awaited new CD and devoted fans have been waiting patiently. However Kim hasn't left them hanging dry. On March 10, 2009, the song "Girls" by the Korean singer, Se7en featuring Lil' Kim was released through digital stores for his U.S. debut single. Kim appeared in the music video that was released on the same day. In March 2009, Kim released the song "Download" featuring R&B singers T-Pain and Charlie Wilson. The song went on to peak at number 21 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It eventually made it to the top 10 US Urban Radio charts climbing to #10. In December of last year, Kim filmed music videos for the second and third singles from her fifth studio album which is supposed to be released sometime this summer but at the rate things are going, it may be pushed to 2012. Can Kim make a comeback and re-claim her throne as the 'Queen Bee'? Sure she can, because its not like Nicki Minaj literally took that title. And if the fact that she still gets love on the music charts is used as a measuring tool, Lil Kim is still very much relevant.
