Arriving during what some consider to be the Golden Era of Hip Hop, Lil Kim earned her start beside the Notorious B.I.G. Their relationship left a lasting impression the rapper. The Queen Bee, exclusively shares with AllHipHop, her most cherished Ready to Die memory on the eve of it’s 20th anniversary (September 13th).
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZom_gVfuw]
Lil Kim takes us back to 1994:
When we were on stage we had this dynamic chemistry. And there was always a different reaction when we came out on stage. At the time, people didn’t know how I looked. When they saw that I was a little petite girl, you know, I was sexy dressing, you know I looked sexy. I think that the world was going to go crazy when I came out, you know what I mean. It just shocked both of us that we would have this dynamic chemistry on stage. And that was like the fun part of it.
And I remember, like, I was so little that I had all this energy—but there’s such a thing as being so adrenaline-driven that—I don’t know if it was stage fright or whatever. But, I was so filled with adrenaline that there were times when nothing would come out. When I was rapping I had this little little light voice. I had to rap extra extra hard. The crowd would be so hype—when I tried to project it was like the crowd couldn’t hear me—but they loved my verse so much that they would just sing along for me.
It bothered me because I couldn’t hear myself. I really didn’t know how to rock a stage that well. My performance and my presence would get me over. This is what they say, they say, ‘I’m such a good performer that people didn’t even pay attention that nothing was coming out from my voice.’ So, it really bothered me.
I remember one day after a show— I was a young girl myself coming into the industry — I first signed my record deal I was 17 and a half going on 18. By the time we were on the road I was just 19 going on 20. I did not know how to project my voice, but I was a damn good performer. So, everyone, you know, just said my vocals for me.
One day after the show I was just crying. And I was running upstairs to my room and B.I.G. ran right up after me. Usually, him and all the boys were running to the after-parties and having fun. Just being out in the after-parties and stuff— B.I.G. just cut everything short. He was so concerned about me. He didn’t even care about the after-party. He didn’t care about running around with his boys.
He went into my room and asked me what was wrong; I told him. He actually got in the mirror with me. He got behind me and told me to grab a brush. He was actually teaching me how to project my voice and perform. That was a classic moment that I’ll never forget. I really appreciated it because I know how much he liked to party after the shows. So, I was like, ‘Wow, he really cut that.’ That night he didn’t even go out. He saw that it was really bothering me. That really made me feel, you know, special.