Kimberly Denise Jones was born on 11 July 1974, and is better known by her stage name Lil' Kim. In her teens, she would freestyle rap, influenced by fellow female hip-hop artists like MC Lyte and the Lady of Rage, and in 1994 she was discovered by fellow rapper The Notorious B.I.G., who invited her to join his group Junior M.A.F.I.A. Their debut album, 'Conspiracy', generated two top 20 singles in the United States and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After a year with Junior M.A.F.I.A., Lil' Kim began her solo career by making guest performances on R&B albums and recording her debut album, 'Hard Core', which was released in November 1996. The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, the highest debut for a female rap album at that time, and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. In 2001, Lil' Kim reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the single 'Lady Marmalade' (a remake of LaBelle's 1974 single), alongside Mýa, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, and the song also won her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. From 1998 to 2000, Lil' Kim continued working under the management of B.I.G.'s best friend, Damion "D-Roc" Butler's Roc Management, touring and modelling for various fashion and pop culture companies including Candie's, Versace, Iceberg, and Baby Phat. On 27 June 2000, she released her second album, 'The Notorious K.I.M.', and this marked a new image and revamped look for the rapper. Despite the limited success of its singles, the album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and was certified platinum four weeks after its release. In 2001 Lil' Kim reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the single 'Lady Marmalade' (a remake of LaBelle's 1974 single), alongside Mýa, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, and the song also won her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. While recording tracks for her second album, with production assistance from Timbaland & Stretch Armstrong, various issues caused it to be delayed from its original release date of August 1999, not least the leaking of eight of their tracks. Kim took the opportunity to scrap the pair's contributions and to retool the project by recording 11 fresh songs and dumping nearly all of the leaked content. With pretty much a full album of unreleased and alternate recordings out there, it's no surprise that they have been floating around for a while, and so here they all are collected together to form a sister album to 'The Notorious K.I.M.', from the same time period as the original release of early to mid-2000.
Track listing
01 K.I.M. (Intro)
02 Resurrection (All Hail the Queen) (feat. Diddy)
03 Nobody Do It Better than Us (feat. Diddy)
04 Diamonds (feat. Kelly Price)
05 Bad Girl (feat. RuPaul)
06 Revolution (demo feat. Grace Jones & Diddy)
07 Good Time (feat. Lil' Cease)
08 Makes No Sense (feat. Tanya Stephens)
09 Rockin' It
10 Queen Bitch (Part 2) (feat. Jay Z & The Notorious B.I.G.)
11 Chinatown (feat. DJ Clue, Lil' Cease & Junior M.A.F.I.A.)
12 How Many Licks? (feat. Kelis, Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dogg & Lil' Cease)
