Lil' Kim: The Naked Truth
By Houston Williams
Lil' Kim is about to go away for a while. But, the pint-sized rapper isn't leaving without leaving an indelible mark that will hold fans down until she returns from 366-day bid in prison. Kim's new album, The Naked Truth, hits stores on September 13, and her fourth opus is already being touted as her finest to date.
These days, "Stop Snitching" t-shirts have been the rage in inner-city communities, especially in Brooklyn - Lil' Kim's hometown. On the stand, Kim was rather tight-lipped but now, she is talking. AllHipHop.com spoke to an introspective, wise Kimberly Jones.
AllHipHop.com: Some people suggested that your adversity may turn into a positive thing. Do you feel that way?
Lil' Kim: I know it is, I mean I'm a very strong believer in God and I'm very spiritual and there's nowhere else to go but up. You what I?m saying, when you have down moments and you know there nowhere else to go but up and - I'm not the type of person to take a negative situation and make it more negative. Only negative people make negative situations worse. You know what I mean? I'm a positive person. On my album, this is not like that cause everyday is a positive, everything that happens in the world ain't positive. All the stuff that happens in the news ain't positive. The government politics, that s**t ain't positive. You know you gotta take the bitter with the sweet and that's why I like for my albums to be consisted of, bitter with the sweet, good, bad, and just easy and hard.
AllHipHop.com: Speaking of the government, like a lot of people are critical of them right now with the Katrina thing, you have any thoughts on that?
Lil' Kim: The only thing I have to say about that is, I just hate what happened and it's just so crazy, you know what I mean, if it's true that they knew about this, is just why, why, why would you not try to warn people to clear the homes, city, and town out. Like, I don't understand that, if it's true. I'm not - we don't know exactly what's true and what's not. So if it is true and they knew about it then that's just negativity and evilness and my heart goes out everyone out in Louisiana and New Orleans who I heard lost everything. There's so many people out there who - we had a family member who was out there doing some film stuff and he was in a hotel and he lost everything, the only thing he had was his computer and his knapsack, you know what I mean, he lost all his clothes, all his other stuff.
AllHipHop.com: Word on the street is that you're gonna get five mics in The Source magazine.
Lil' Kim: Yeah. My peoples been tellin' me that. I think it just does great for the evolution of women. I think that's great. I thinks it's gonna be great for women now too. So women be like, "Now I know I can get five mics." Some women probably feel like, "I'm not even gonna try to get five mics, I know I ain't getting five mics." They're like, "Damn, I gonna try to get five mics too."
AllHipHop.com: It will be interesting to watch...
Lil' Kim: Every time my album comes put out, it's like there's a big, how can say this, there's a big hype around me, I come out and boom, you don't get enough of me. It's like my last two albums only had one video for both. That's like crazy. You know what I mean? So it's like, "She's here and then she just goes away real quick, like damn what happened, we need some more Kim." They haven't gotten it. That's where I think the misconception comes in it. That's where it is. But see with this album it's almost the same thing but it's gonna be way different and I think that they'll get to know me, see. With this album I might have the music, I might have the backing, I might have, hopefully, the videos. We tryin' to do at least three or four videos before I go and some other stuff so you can get to know me. But the only thing is in person you won't have me because I'll be gone. I gotta go away. But that's almost the same thing but it's a little different. Hopefully with this time with me being away, my music will be more appreciated and who I am and me as a person, I'll be more appreciated, hopefully.
AllHipHop.com: You feel that you're not appreciated?
Lil' Kim: I think sometimes I'm not, no. I think sometimes I'm not. People hate on me for no reason. Everybody know that I'm the most person - when people want there ratings to be high on the radio like certain talk show hosts, first thing they do is talk about Lil' Kim in a negative way. I haven't done nothing to these people, magazines - for no reason. They trash me. They don't even know me. So, of course that's not being appreciated, when I'm the one who runs the sexiness to the hardcore music for the women. Like, I should be respected and praised. And I'm not cocky or nothing like that, but respect as respecters do, you give respect doers with who deserves it, you know?
AllHipHop.com: If B.I.G. was here, what would he say?
Lil' Kim: I mean if Big was here I think a lot of things probably would of end up going down the way they went down. And if he was here, even if they - let's say they would've gone down anyway, Big is a very inspirational person in my life. Big could say anything. But I know one thing Big would've rolled out with me to the end, whatever. I think by now Big is proud of me. I think he's proud of me and in some senses or some way he may mad at me for being too be worried in certain situations or just being that nice or not being myself, not really saying what I really saying what I really want to say at certain moments. But that's all kind of changed.
AllHipHop.com: Do you think women have to talk about sexual things to get a foothold?
Lil' Kim:I didn't know what they wanna do. [Laughs] I don't why it is that way, it's just that way. It should change. But things have changed a little. You know what I mean? I'm the first female rapper to get five mics you know what I mean? So it changes. You have to be the one to change things. I'm nothing like any female rapper that's out right now. That's the misconception and I hate it. You know what I'm saying? Remy has her own style. Everybody has there own style. Even homegirl [Foxy Brown], who they always compare me to, she is so different from me. I'm not her and this is the one thing I think I'm gonna be most satisfied with this album. And now I get to be separated all that. My record that's out right now ["Put Your Lighters Up"] don?t sound like any other female. You what I'm saying? I've gotten that, I sound like Lauryn, but see there's where you get your Grammy nomination. You know what I mean? I love being compared to Lauryn. And that means that I've done something different. Maybe that's it. And you feel cause I ain't different enough but it is what it is. I don't know.
AllHipHop.com: What about the industry now? I know that Maino has been real outspoken on your behalf, and Bumpy Knuckles too?
Lil' Kim: Those are my family, Maino, Bumpy, that's my family and they been around me for as long as - til' the boat sink - you know what I mean. And the boat ain't never sinking - so they gonna be around for a long time. I'm gonna be around for a long time and, you got some people in the industry that you're just close with.
AllHipHop.com: Okay, okay. Now on the one song , "My N***as," you have some things to say about people, can you speak on those things, like as what made you...
Lil' Kim: You know, just get my album, it speaks for itself. Everybody, you know, it ain't hard to see, hard to see, hard to tell. You what I mean, it ain't no secret, it is what it is.
AllHipHop.com: In the light of your situation, I think it'd be important to know - how is Lil' Kim different from Kim Jones?
Lil' Kim: I mean, I think everyone to a certain extent has to be a totally different person when they go home. You know what I mean? I doubt it very much if Lil' Jon just walks around saying to his mother, "Yeah, OKKKKKK!" I don't think he does that every five minutes, you know what I'm saying. I just think that everybody has their own personal life when they home and I think that's neat. Like, I'm not that type of person who's just like you know - people say I'm so different because when ? I think people think I?m different because when they see me in person my voice is so soft spoken and I'm so classy. They don't expect me to be classy because my music is a little bit hardcore, whatever. I don't know, I don't understand what the misconception is. I don't understand. I think that people just haven't taken the time to really get to know me, and haven't been fair with me. But I think this album they gonna forced to be fair, take the time. That's what I think. I don't know what it is, I really don't. I'm trying to understand what's the misconception too. Why can't I be - why can't eye make hardcore music and be very sexy and then at the same time be classy? Why?
AllHipHop.com: Any final words or anything you would like to say to your fans and just people in general?
Lil' Kim: Yeah. I just love my fans. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, you can keep it going for a whole 'nother paragraph. I love you, I love you, I love you, because without them, there'd be no me, and they were supportive of me doing everything I've been going through so there the ones who I am working so hard for. You know what I mean? And I thank them so much.
Lil’ Kim: The Naked Truth Part II
By Houston Williams
It may not be easy to spot now, but going to the “big house” may be the best thing to happen to Lil’ Kim's career. Based on a recent interview on BET’s “106 & Park” she indicated that knows this notion to be true. “I’m gonna go do what I gotta do for a year and a day and come back stronger than ever, harder than ever,” she barked in front of a horde of shrieking fans. “They done messed up now...Don’t send me [to prison], because all you are gonna do is build this machine stronger.
Since her roughneck debut, Hardcore, Lil’ Kim’s subject matter and lyrical poise have developed tremendously, not just her fashion sense. Despite what the circumstances may say, it’s great to be Lil’ Kim, as seen with her new album The Naked Truth. Here, Kim explains the plan while she is away, her iconic status and the odd way she linked up with The Game.
AllHipHop.com: On The Naked Truth, it seems like it’s more topic oriented, how have you evolved since Hardcore?
Lil’ Kim: Just like the things, I think, I’ve gone through have evolved. Just on those things, period. I mean, there’s a lot more to talk about, I mean I’m always gonna evolved as a artist and I’m not gonna stop until I feel I’ve reached a peak of being an artist until I don’t want to do it anymore.
AllHipHop.com: A lot people put you in a category of ‘sex oriented’ Rap or whatever, how far have you moved beyond that?
Lil’ Kim: But see, that’s just a thing, Like, they used to do that, after this album, everyone’s changed their whole song - and I like that. I’m glad, not just about sex anymore, nobody’s gonna do a whole album with just be sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. I don’t believe that that’s easy to do. Even some of the most sexual artists from back in the days that have been out there, you get their album it’s not only just about sex. I used to hate that. With this album, I’m happy that everyone is taking a whole different approach to who I am as a artist and the music I make.
AllHipHop.com: Because Hardcore is so revered in some circles, I have to wonder if you would you call this new work your best album to date?
Lil’ Kim: I think it’s my best album. I think on Hardcore, there’s a lot of classics and you can’t take away that, you can’t take away classics. But this is definitely gonna be my best album. As far as the most important album, I think La Bella Mafia was the most important album and it didn’t really – it didn’t really get what it needed, it didn’t get the nurture that it needed. To Hip-Hop, to me, for my career - it was very important – that was and important and I think people will understand later why that album was very important later. Notorious K.I.M., although it wasn’t the better album out of any of these albums, we can’t ignore that album because that album was – that was right after Biggie died and that album is gonna very important and very necessary. In the future, I think that people will understand the evolution of Lil’ Kim.
AllHipHop.com: As you discuss importance, I can’t ignore that Syracuse University had a class devoted to you. How do you look at that?
Lil’ Kim: A lot of people thought it was bulls**t, some people thought it was bogus. I thought it was a great thing. They had a class on Tupac, I think they even were even trying to make a class on Biggie. Why not do a class on the first female of Hip-Hop who brought the evolution of being sexy to the game, why not? You know what I’m saying? I wouldn’t even mind if they have had a class on like the first female rapper ever. Why not? What’s wrong with it? I don’t see anything wrong with it. I sat in on a class, it’s not just, “Oh, go find every Lil’ Kim record, or for every Lil’ Kim video, and do a study on her.” It’s a literature class. So when we doing music, music is literate so you have to write, you what I’m saying? Music is studying. They have literature books, Maya Angelou books, they have all kind of literature books that you have to study and compare these literature books the life and the times and the style of Lil’ Kim, my music. And honestly, I haven’t checked up on it lately, but Greg is the professor of the class and he’s a really, really, nice person. And I understand why he pushed for this. And when I went everyone that was on the board at Syracuse, they were so cool and so nice. I haven’t heard them taking it away or anything like that, but one thing I do know is that the classes were over booked. There were so many people trying to get into the class so there must be something in a reason for it. So instead of hanging on and on, rejecting it, they need to accept it and embrace it cause it is a part of life and culture.
AllHipHop.com: In the uncertainty of now, will your line of wrist-watches still come out?
Lil’ Kim: Yeah. As a matter of fact, I’m wearing one right now. I like to always like to keep all my stuff new. We’re in the middle right now – we’re changing distributors, so the person that distributes this watch which is a – the person will not be distributing this watch for me anymore. So right now, we’re gonna do different designs basically.
AllHipHop.com: Likewise, will there be the reality show, as promised?
Lil’ Kim: I may possibly have two shows, we’re not sure. We’re not sure exactly where The Reality of Lil’ Kim is going to placed right now. I mean, we’re in works with some people right now. Tracy Edmunds is playing a big role in this reality show, that’s Babyface’s wife. So she’s like my big sister. And she’s playing a big role and as you know she has the [BET] project, College Hill, so she’s not no stranger to reality TV. And we were really excited about her being really excited about it, because she’s someone who I’ve known for a long time, she’s always wanted to work with me and we never gotten a chance. We linked up again over the last few months and we just started talking about the show and we just agreed to do it. So she’s playing a big role in this. I can’t really say where we’re going yet.
AllHipHop.com: So this is different then the other one?
Lil’ Kim: [It’s different] than the VH1 reality show. The VH1 reality show is supposed to be a makeover show, just something because who knows fashion and style better than me in the Hip-Hop industry? So I think VH1 wanted to bring something to the urban community that they could watch and accept and appreciate, and they used me to do that. I think because of my whole situation they still – it still supposed to be – we’re still going forward with it but because of my situation, we’re just trying to pan out the next episode. We did shoot one pilot that VH1 loved, but I wasn’t happy about and since I wasn’t too happy about it, we’re trying figure out better ways to edit it and produce it and make it better.
AllHipHop.com: Would you consider yourself a fashion icon?
Lil’ Kim: You know, it’s crazy…yeah, fashion-wise, I am. I don’t know what it is about me that they love so much. I love that. But I don’t know what it is, like Mark Jacobs and I have been friends for a couple years now and he’s somebody I love and appreciate. He has a huge Marc Jacobs line, which I love and then he also designs for Louis Vuitton so he is like one of my closest friends in the industry. He’s teaching me a lot too of how to go for my style and be even more comfortable with it. I’m always comfortable with it but over the years there was a slight black barricade of me being reinventing myself and that was because I was just let people style me and just letting them do whatever they wanted to do because I had so much other stuff I had focus on. I kinda just didn’t just put my heart and soul into fashion no more as much as I could because there was so much other things going on but over the last year I don’t call it cleaning up my look or I don’t call it toning down, because I hate that I a lot and I hate that cause what happens when I didn’t do a look that’s over-the-top but it’s still looks good? It’s not toned down. It’s not cleaned up. But it looks good. So you can’t say cleaned up, toned down. They can say whatever they want to say. I just say taking control of my own career, my own image. That’s all I say.
AllHipHop.com: I think you’ve shown street-level chicks a way to look classy, and vice-versa…
Lil’ Kim: Yeah. I can’t speak for them. I just appreciated the fact that they appreciate me and what I do in with my fashion. I love that. But I don’t what it is like Marc Jacobs and I have been friends for a couple years now and he’s somebody I love and appreciate. He has a huge Marc Jacobs line which I love and then he also designs for Louie Vuitton, so he is like one of my closest friends in the industry. He’s teaching me a lot too, of how to go for my style and be even more comfortable with it. I’m always comfortable with it - but over the years, there was a slight black barricade of me reinventing myself and that was because I was just let people style me and just letting them do whatever they wanted to do because I had so much other stuff I had focus on. I kinda just didn’t just put my heart and soul into fashion no more as much as I could, because there was so much other things going on. But over the last year, I don’t call it ‘cleaning up my look’ or I don’t call it ‘toning down,’ because I hate that I a lot and I hate that ‘cause what happens when I didn’t do a look that’s over-the-top but it’s still looks good? They can say whatever they want to say. I just say taking control of my own career, my own image. That’s all I say.
AllHipHop.com: So like, the Diana Ross nipple cover thing [from the 1999 MTV VMA’s], that wasn’t your idea?
Lil’ Kim: No, actually it wasn’t my idea; I just knew how to rock it. [laughs] Everyone can do that, I’m sure. But when I did it, it was just something that I understood. People were looking like – people who were around at the time that knew that I was gonna do this was like – they didn’t understand it. But I understood it. You know what I mean? Because just before she showed it to me I was looking in a magazine where I’ve seen a dress that looked similar to that but wasn’t exactly that. And then my stylist at the time came and brought that to the table.
AllHipHop.com: Lastly, the record you recently did with The Game is getting a lot of buzz. Can you tell us how you two linked?
Lil’ Kim: That was like a freak accident. First, I met him one time in LA. He was really nice to me, he came up – this was way before he became an artist - he came up to me and was like, “Yo Kim, I like your s**t.” He wasn’t like trying to talk to me, nothin’ like that, he was straight music and I loved that about him, that even that one moment that I met him, I didn’t even know who he was. .” He shook my hand, you know what I mean, to me that’s somebody admiring my work not somebody just being a fan or just saying something just to say something. I respected that and I think he did it right. I liked his introduction and that was cool.
[So recently,] I had a listening party, I wasn’t there. But one of his representatives was there and he heard a certain a record that I had, and he went crazy over it. He loved it and he felt like Game would be perfect for the hook, and that was just like his artist and he’s cool with my people. So he reached out to my people and was like, “Yo, can Game be on this hook, so crazy, I want him to be on this record with Kim.” My people said, “This record could be even bigger with Game,” I think it’s something nobody would expect. We sent the track to Game, he was in London. I respect him for that, he was doing some [publicity and touring.] He took the time out in London to go in the studio in London, he laid a verse and did a hook, but he – the verse is gonna be on a remix. I really respect him because I don’t know if I would’ve done that. [laughs]
Allhiphop.com
