Brandy Source

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QuoteIt?s the perch that launched a hip-hop revolution. Sprawled on all fours atop a fur rug, back arched, and sheathed in a sheer lace top, was rapper Lil? Kim, then a newcomer on the scene. A fire crackled behind her, a bottle of Champagne chilled beside her, and as the Brooklynite stared down the camera, it was clear the pint-size dynamo was just as hard core as the bold typeface of her racy debut 1996 album proclaimed.

From her ravenous sexual appetite to the insatiable pleasure she took in designer fashion, Lil? Kim?n?e Kimberly Jones?brought about a wild, feminine, and intentional style to the hyper-masculine rap game, the likes of which had never been seen before. In a single breath, the MC and Notorious B.I.G. prot?g? rapped furiously about her love of Armani suits, ?Chanel 9 boots,? and a sex-positive bed partner. She draped herself in floor-length furs, Versace logomania ensembles, and in ?bras all see through.? Kim?s lethal combination of style and bravado would propel Hard Core to the top of the charts, the debut album going platinum twice and becoming an instant classic.

Kim raised eyebrows, but her risk-taking and luxurious approach to fashion also made her a designer muse. Marc Jacobs, Donatella Versace, and Giorgio Armani all clamored to dress the rapper, and she reinvented their designs in a refreshing and audacious way in turn. ?Ghetto fabulous? is the term that gets thrown around a lot when it comes to the way Kim mixed street culture and luxury fashion in her ?Crush On You? and ?No Time? videos. But it?s also a bit reductive, considering Kim was more of a harbinger, ushering a brazen look that, 20 years later, continues to dazzle on Instagram timelines, Tumblr feeds, and concert stages everywhere.

Above, on the eve of Hard Core?s 20th anniversary, a look back at Lil? Kim?s unbridled glamour.

http://www.vogue.com/13502114/lil-kim-hardcore-rapper-marc-jacobs-versace-fendi-notorious-b-i-g-puff-daddy/

NYLON.com

QuoteRevisiting Lil Kim?s ?Hardcore? Album 20 Years Later
How the record stands up in 2016

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oday marks the 20th anniversary of Lil Kim?s debut Hardcore. The album landed her a Grammy nomination and also made her the first female rap artist with three consecutive number one singles on the rap songs chart. She burst onto the scene loud, proud, and with lots and lots of sex.

Salacious rap isn?t new and wasn?t back in 1996. It?s followed hip-hop through its early years to today and will continue into tomorrow. But we never saw it delivered quite as raunchily, expertly, and confidently as Kim. Yes, the fact that she?s a woman spitting was a novelty at the time but her rhymes rivaled those on her Junior M.A.F.I.A. squad and could run circles around male rappers in the game now. She entered unchartered territory, but her gender didn?t do her any favors. In fact, it often worked against her.

The album was well-received at the time, racking up solid reviews from The Source and Rolling Stone. But Professor Greg Thomas, who previously taught ?Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen Bitch 101? at Syracuse University, an English class dedicated to Lil Kim, points out that it wasn?t loved by everyone.

There was a big puritanical backlash against this album as well.  People forget and get seriously revisionist. There was a lot of hypocritical hate. At a certain point, most everybody said it was an undisputed classic and game-changer. But there were political campaigns against it. There was a lot of pseudo-Hip Hop sexist hating.  And it took a lot of energy to market it since radio was not ready, not by any stretch of the imagination.   

If we had to guess, it would probably remain off the radio today, also (or, at least, would be extremely censored). But the best songs usually do. And as Thomas points out, that speaks even further to her impact. ?Lil? Kim became a supernova without music that was mainstream radio-ready.?

She rose to the top with provocative lines and a bad bitch attitude. She appointed herself Queen Bee (the original, sorry Bey) and proved her right to the throne with songs like ?Spend A Little Doe? where she dismisses affection (?Ask Tina, love ain?t got shit to do with you and me?) in the same verse that she boasts about her sexual escapades (?Call me Sunshine, pussy spread like the rainbow?). Or in ?Dreams,? where she lays out her very graphic fantasies of fucking everyone from Babyface to Brian MccKnight to D?Angelo. Or in?basically the entire album where she asserts herself sexually with not one ounce of shame.

Feminist is a controversial title to place on Kim but we think it?s fitting?at least, as far as this album is concerned. Is a feminist not someone who strives for equality on all fronts?including in the bedroom? To command what you want with a line akin to: ?You ain?t lickin? this, you ain?t stickin? this/And I got witnesses, ask any niggaa I been with/They ain?t hit shit till they stuck they tongue in this...I don?t want dick tonight/Eat my pussy right?? What some might label to as vulgar, others would classify as sexually liberating.

Kim?s guerilla artistry marked a new time for hip-hop, flinging the door open for those behind her. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Kim?s Hardcore has been showered in compliments. As Thomas outlines: 

It?s still being shamelessly imitated as we speak. It became a blueprint used?poorly?by any and all record companies who had a female rap artist they wanted to push. It became a secular bible of female artists with and without record contracts all over the country. People then and now would shamelessly break the cardinal law of hip-hop, the imperative to be original at all costs (?Death to biters?), because they were so mesmerized by this album performance. Not to mention others, Def Jam created Foxy Brown and somebody made Nicki Minaj because of what Kim put into not only this album, but the essence of her Hard Core lyrical persona and artistry. 

Perhaps the strongest defense for Hardcore is its staying power. ?This album could be dropped today and it would go on to have the very same ?world-shaking? impact. It would still hypnotize,? Professor Thomas reflects. It?s a record that has and will continue to stand the test of time. Here?s to 20 more years of offending, uplifting, and motivating.

http://www.nylon.com/articles/lil-kim-hardcore-twentieth-anniversary