Lil' Kim

Born Kimberly Jones in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, the petite MC came up with a coterie of Biggie Smalls' associates known as Junior M.A.F.I.A. on the rap septet's first single, "Player's Anthem." Much like Lauryn with the Fugees, fans couldn't wait for 20-year-old Lil' Kim to break camp and go solo. The M.A.F.I.A.'s Conspiracy album largely disappointed, but "Get Money" certified that she was no fluke. Her verses were so witty, impassioned, and overtly sexual, the streets started buzzing about Biggie writing her rhymes. Lil' Kim's delivery and self-assertive persona carried her as far as her rhymes, whoever wrote them. Like a Hip Hop Madonna, she flipped her sexually liberated image into endorsement deals with MAC Cosmetics and Baby Phat, selling another million copies of 2000's The Notorious K.I.M. sans Biggie's involvement. By the time she won a GRAMMY for her part in the '01 Moulin Rouge soundtrack single "Lady Marmalade", her rhymes were all her own.