Two of Lil’ Kim’s Old Albums Hit The Top 10 Charts, Is It Because of Nicki Minaj?

Lil’ Kim just scored a nice victory, because two of her old albums placed on the hip-hop sales charts, her 1996 debut “Hard Core” and 2000’s “The Notorious K.I.M.” The albums grabbed the No. 6 and No. 30 positions respectively.  

After she heard the news, Kim went on social media to express excitement and thanked her fans.

Lil' Kim's Old Albums Chart

Instagram

“This is unbelievably insane,” she wrote. “My two little babies ‘Hard Core’ and ‘Notorious K.I.M.’ are re-charting and running the victory lap. Thank you to everyone for the support. God is the greatest.”

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why those two LPs charted. Some might say Nicki Minaj dropping her new album “Queen” recently reminded people of Kim’s music since they’ve been feuding for years. 

Others might believe that Nicki’s new release put a spotlight on female rappers in general, and the former Junior M.A.F.I.A. member is benefiting from it.

Or, it could have everything to do with Kim releasing her new single and video “Nasty One” early this month, and the chart position means she’s developed a new generation of fans.

Regardless of the reason, it seems that things are improving for the female MC because aside from Eve, Missy Elliott and a few others, there were no prominent, mainstream female rappers between the times of Kim’s reign and Nicki’s reign. 

These days, however, there’s a slew of buzzed female talents like The City Girls, Saweetie, Kashdoll and Princess Nokia, to name a few.

In fact, on the very chart that Kim mentioned, there are three LPs from women rappers that are in the top 10: Her “Hardcore” album, Cardi B’s “Invasion of Privacy” and Nicki’s “Queen,” which sits at No. 1.

After Kim thanked her fans on social media, some congratulated her and others said she ought to settle her issues with Nicki. 

“Drop the beef,” one follower tweeted. “You and @nickiminaj can dominate the rap game together. Collaboration Queens.”

“Yes, Nicki just said that you inspired her,” another person wrote. “She was getting very petty in that interview, but at one point she did talk about her inspirations and you were one of them.”

It’s not clear what interview that follower listened to, but a few days ago Kim sat down with Real 92.3 LA and got annoyed when she was asked about Nicki naming her album “Queen.” That’s because Kim has always been known as the Queen Bee, even before Beyoncé.

“God Bless her, what she did she did … I’m past that, I’m over it,” said Kim. At the end of the day, stop asking me about old girl or that chick … Hopefully, God puts it on her mind or whoever else’s mind to do the right thing, because she know what she did and once that happens, hopefully everyone will stop asking me. ‘Cause y’all don’t do that to her. I don’t like that.”

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