by Chris Chavez
Daily Lobo
On her fourth album, The Naked Truth, Lil' Kim abandons her sexually explicit lyrics and bares her soul.
Kimberly "Lil' Kim" Jones, who is serving a year-long sentence in federal prison stemming from a perjury conviction, uses her legal and personal troubles to create a quality rap album.
Lil' Kim's 1996 groundbreaking debut album, Hardcore, turned the sexually explicit male dominated rap world on its head. Since her debut, Lil' Kim has been established as rap music's most sexually aggressive and explicit rapper.
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Leaving her sexually provocative lyrics behind, Lil' Kim spends the majority of her time on The Naked Truth dealing with issues related to her trial, her looming prison sentence and her backstabbing friends.
On, "Slippin," a slow-tempo and deeply personal track, Lil' Kim raps about her trial and why she chose to lie to a federal grand jury.
Lil' Kim raps, "A street grudge put me in front of a judge/ but I stood there like what/ the Bee don't budge/ it's a foul game no such thing as fair play/ and real niggaz get railroaded every day."
In 2001, Lil' Kim and members of her entourage were involved in a shootout with a rival rap group outside a New York radio station. Lil' Kim testified to a federal grand jury, denying all of their involvement, despite a security video tape showing the gunfight.
Lil' Kim's manager and bodyguard did not do the same. They testified against her in return for a lesser sentence. Lil' Kim was sentenced to 366 days in a federal prison and three years of probation.
While The Naked Truth is Lil' Kim's opportunity to tell the world her side of the story, she does not spend the whole album focusing on her trial. On, "Last Day," a slow-tempo piano-driven track, Lil' Kim states that her prison sentence is not going to slow her down one bit.
Fans of old-school Lil' Kim won't be disappointed with The Naked Truth. Tracks like "Gimme That," "Kitty Box" and "Kronik" offer classic Lil' Kim tales of her sexual exploits, but these tracks are overshadowed by the seriousness of the remainder of the album.
Lil' Kim's artistic progression on The Naked Truth may be due solely to her personal and legal troubles, but this offers listeners an unexpected and welcome change to her music. Combined with tight lyrics and precise production, Lil' Kim has created an album through adversity that will go down in history as a hip-hop classic.
