By Odeisel
How do I say goodbye to what we had? Since Daryl beat Cochise to death under the L in Cooley High to the Boyz II Men redux, we ponder that question whenever the shit that used to be great ends up in the dumps. Ali taking lumps from Larry Holmes, Air Jordan clanging jumpers for the Wizards, and the last decade of SNL all come to mind. And then there was Lil’ Kim.
That’s how I was going to start this piece during all the fuss about her selling her mixtape and everyone clowning her. We don’t take easy wins here on the Planet so I scrapped that. Lil’ Kim’s last record was not good to me at all. I’d rather hear Kim Jones than Kimmy Blanco But if she flames out, and she probably will, I will look back at her career fondly like I remember Ali in Manila, Jordan tapping Bryon Russell on the hip and elevating, and Eddie Murphy on SNL. No matter what happens, we should always remember the high.
Lil Kim has arguably had the best solo career of any solo mainstream female rapper. Whether you like her music, or whether you’re in a tiff because she has ghostwriters (most of them do), her history in Hip-Hop is indelible, with some really good albums and timeless (in Hip-Hop terms anyway) guest spots and songs of her own. But time has not been good to Kimberly Jones. She dances with stars now, she MJ’d out on us, and the only two people that can’t let go of Biggie worse are Jigga who keeps spitting his rhymes and Diddy who just replaced him with 2.0 (ruuuunh!). When you love your friends you miss them. And when they die you don’t forget.
She’s selling her mixtape. I don’t think she has a label deal right now. But instead of sitting on her ass, she got up and went back to making music. What if Papoose sold his mixtapes when they were hot instead of whoring out all his good material for free and fading away? You strike while the iron is hot and you don’t wait for some label to sign you. Lil Kim has sold millions of records. You don’t think out of those millions she got a few thousand real fans that will pay 10 dollars for what they used to pay 15 for? Despite what the innernets say there are people that love (and stan) for her.
A few months ago, Drake, before he got signed, dropped a tape better than his retail album would end up being. When he got signed, you know what happened? They sold the mixtape, with fewer songs than the original. People bought it. The full original was still free on the web and not even illegal to download. Diamond District artist yU (who is very dope) originally released his tape Before Taxes free and subsequently went retail. Lady GaGa’s Fame Monster album was made from the scraps of her Famealbum. That’s some mixtape shit and it got Grammy nominated. What’s the big deal?
If Kim wants to flame out let her flame out. It’s the way of the world. I ain’t buying that shit. Her last song was godawful and she shouldn’t have dissed Minaj in the first place. It’s Hip-Hop. Let her get her spanking in the booth and we move on. Anyway, I’m going to remember her before the flame out. As the hardest femcee in the biz for longer than any other “viable” mainstream female rapper ever was. If people gave up when everyone said they should, there would be no records dropping or shows starting.
[pro-player width=’425′ height=’344′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeASejD2vN0&playnext=1&list=PL7A184662A6E74F50[/pro-player]
Mobb Deep Feat. Lil’ Kim – “Quiet Storm Remix”
19_Quiet_Storm_(Remix)_ft._Lil_’_Kim
[pro-player width=’425′ height=’344′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxAfBnfpMk[/pro-player]
Lil’ Kim Feat. Sisqo – “How Many Licks”
[pro-player width=’425′ height=’344′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTTVkh6NX50[/pro-player]
Christina Aguilera X Lil’ Kim X Mya X Pink – “Lady Marmalade”
Christina_Aguilera_&_Kil_’_Kim_&_Mya_&_Pink_-_Lady_Marmalade
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Good points made here OD. I just think social media has made it easier and more important to hate. I’ve been guilty of it too but the KIM bashing was corny. God forbid something were to happen to her and we as a Hip-Hop community lost her everyone would be praising her.
I agree whole heartedly, I will always support Lil Kim and I don’t think Nicki Minaj is a real rapper. She is a joke to me and she talks all that mess about Kim but clearly she wants to be what Kim once was. I will always be Team Kim. BTW that picture is hot to death!! Honeyguns!!!!