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Reigning Queen Bee

by Jianna Caines
Excellent Photos by Oscar Peralta

Black Entertainment Television is making its new home within the Harlem community on 106th Street and Park Avenue. This comes as no surprise since New York is considered to be the Mecca of the hip-hop world. To celebrate their arrival, BET hosted a concert at the legendary Apollo Theater. Their All- Star talent line-up included major league artists such as Carl Thomas, JA-Rule, Jay-Z, and many more. Although the area was filled with many talented artists, this entertainer knew has to get the attention that she wanted and the respect that she deserves. This is none other than the

Queen Bee, otherwise known as the Notorious KIM.
Born as Kimberly Jones, Lil KIM has proven. Who else can dazzle their audience with their chameleon style that changes depending on her mood. Like a true artist, Lil Kim uses her whole body to express herself. Changing make-up to fit her mood is just the beginning. Her metamorphosis includes everything from her hair to her renowned outfits that may at times bare it all.

Her performance at the BET block party was a mind blowing event that moved the audience as it watched her continue to live up to her title as the Queen. Lil Kim believes that BET¹s move to New York was inevitable.
Her actions, lyrics and stage presence are very controversial topics that grab the attention of people everywhere. Her topics range from her experiences growing up to sex in its rawest form. Her diversity reflects listeners because at any given time she can appeal to different groups of people. Because of this, many parents and authorities believe Lil Kim¹s lyrics to be to vulgar and raunchy, but to many, she is just being plain out honest. On the other hand, Lil Kim states, "My albums always come with a parental advisory for those who are underage." Then she makes a very important point about teenagers in the status quo. "Most of the kids who may listen to my music have a worse mouth than me," she said.
Although Lil Kim is the reigning Queen Bee, there is a certain female artist who begs to differ about her status. An example of this was expressed on Noreaga¹s track entitled "Bang, Bang". On this song, Foxy Brown insists that Lil Kim didn¹t do her any favors by pushing her album release back . After this, Lil Kim proves herself Notorious with a comeback on DJ clues album track called Notorious KIM. When asked about her feeling towards Foxy Brown, she stated, "Who? Foxy Brown Who", and that¹s all she wrote.

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