Who

The pint-sized Lil' Kim is hip-hop's "Queen Bee" and the former boo of the late Notorious B.I.G.

Backstory

A young runaway from a broken home in Brooklyn, Kim dabbled in drug dealing and prostitution before she was rescued at age 16 by Chris "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, who inducted her into his Junior M.A.F.I.A rap group. While romancing the young Kim, Biggie helped her improve her rhymes, and gave her airtime on his own singles like "Get Money." In 1996, she launched a solo career with the album Hard Core, but the raunchy lyricist was dealt a blow a year later when Biggie was murdered. She briefly took a break from recording, but bounced back with a handful of modeling gigs (for Candies, Versace, and Baby Phat), and released her second album, The Notorious K.I.M., in 2000. Both her second record and her 2003 follow-up La Bella Mafia went platinum, but her career hit a major snag in 2005 when she was sent to prison for perjury. She was released amid a flurry of flashbulbs in mid-2006.

Of note

Biggie was responsible for styling Kim as a cutesy yet dirty-mouthed thug. She's continued to release hip-hop hits with lyrics that'd make Jenna Jameson blush, rapping about "sex, drugs, and cash" and her constant scheming to get more of each. Rapping about hiding bricks of cocaine in her vagina or making a Sprite can "disappear" in her mouth requires just the right look, of course, and she's generated just as much attention over the years for her X-rated getups, like the outfit she wore to the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards which featured one breast totally exposed and adorned with a glittery pasty. Although her legal ordeals (see below) have slowed her career down considerably of late, she's reportedly at work on her next album. No date has been set for its release, but it won't come on her longtime label Atlantic—she jilted the label in 2008—though it will, per usual, be over-the-top and very, very filthy.

Crime file

Kim did hard time for perjury in 2005 after lying in court about a hip-hop grudge-related shooting outside of the Hot 97 radio station. She was sentenced to 12 months, but released after 10 for good behavior and then spent another month under house arrest. Her preparations for jail time were documented on the exploitative (and hilarious) BET reality show, Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown.

In person

Despite her larger-than-life persona and outrageous antics, Kim stands at just 4'11". Kim likes to call herself "the black Barbie" and, just like the doll, Kim's got a lot of plastic parts. She's had a nose job, liposuction, breast implants, cheek implants, a chin implant, and lip injections—and she's a fan of blonde hair extensions and blue contact lenses. Her breast implants have caused her the most trouble—during her jail stint they started to leak, and a doctor was summoned to "service" them.

Personal

Unfortunately for Biggie's wife Faith Evans, Lil' continued their affair throughout his marriage, and later dished about their abusive relationship to the press, claiming that Biggie pulled a gun on her and forced her to have an abortion. She's currently single and lives in an Alpine, N.J. home she bought for $2.3 million in 2002.