Lil' Kim, Amerie, et Trina

Kimberly Denise Jones began rapping while expelled from home in her teens, at first freestyling with her friends before writing her own full length raps soon afterwards. It was while she was living on the streets and on her friends couches that she struck up a friendship with an up and coming rapper called Christopher Wallace, whose stage name was The Notorious B.I.G. In 1994, when he was still becoming the legend we know him to be today, he drafted the 19 year old Kim and two of their childhood friends into a hip-hop group called Junior M.A.F.I.A, who released “Conspiracy”, their debut album, the following year. The album, largely thanks to Biggie's involvement and promotion, was a Gold-certified success that made a star out of the 20 year old Kim, who capitalised on the exposure by guesting on a number of hit R&B albums and releasing her debut solo album “Hard Core” in November 1996.

While the Junior M.A.F.I.A album was a success, “Hard Core” was a revelation, and Lil' Kim was suddenly one of the biggest names in hip-hop. One top ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 later in the form of “Crush On You”, and Kim was suddenly a pop star to boot. Of course, being the mid-to-late 90's, being a hip-hop star came with its fare share of controversy, but whatever rise Kim would get out of people, sometimes people within the upper echelons of her own record label, it would never derail her sales or her radio play. After forming her label Queen Bee Entertainment in 1999, her dominance was certified by the release of her second solo album “The Notorious K.I.M”, an album that was certified Platinum four weeks after its release.

Like the vast majority of artists that hit the big time in such a spectacular manner, Kim was unable to stay at that level of commercial success. However, unlike many artists on a commercial downturn, she was still able to release Gold-certified albums while garnering the best reviews of her career for albums like 2005's “The Naked Truth”, and her 2008 mixtape “Ms. G.O.A.T”. Her live shows also remain some of the most acclaimed in all hip-hop, so any self-respecting rap fan would be mad to miss out. For all of that, Lil' Kim comes highly recommended.

During her free time in high school, Trina began writing rhymes until she caught the eye of Miami rapper Trick Daddy who offered the rapper a guest spot on his single “Nann Nigga” in 1998. The song became Trick Daddy’s lead single from his sophomore album “www.thug.com”, which reached No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100, and exposed Trina to huge audience. Due to the success Trina signed with Slip-n-Slide Records who issued her debut album “Da Baddest Bitch” in March 2001. Although the rapper failed to maintain creative control the album debuted at No. 33 on the Billboard 200, and stayed there for 29 weeks.

Working alongside Missy Elliot for her sophomore album, Trina had complete creative control over the release, which was released in August 2002. “Diamond Princess” debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the singles “Told Y’all” featuring Rick Ross, “No Panties”, and “B R Right” featuring Ludacris. The same year Trina launched her own label Diva Enterprises, which later became DP Entertainment, and signed the nine-year-old rapper Lil Brianna.

Trina’s third full-length album “Glamorest Life” was issued in October 2005 and out-performed both its predecessors, debuting at No. 11 on the Billboard 200. The album was led by the single “Don’t Trip” featuring Lil Wayne, and aided by the single “Here We Go” featuring Kelly Roland. After signing with EMI in 2007, Trina released two mixtapes “Rockstarr Royalty” and “Baddest Chick 2: Reloaded” ahead of her fourth full-length “Still da Baddest” in 2008. Reaching No. 6 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart, the album sold 47,000 in its first week.

Led by the single “That’s My Attitude”, Trina’s fifth studio album “Amazin’” was released in May 2010, and later spawned the hits “Million Dollar Girl”, “White Girl”, and “Always”. In 2011 Trina released the mixtape “Diamonds Are Forever”, which featured the singles “Ghetto”, “Waist So Skinny”, and “Can I”. The single “Beam” arrived in July 2012 featuring GunPlay, as well as the single “Bad Bitch” featuring Lolo Monroe and Shawnna.