Hard Core (Lil' Kim album)

Background

After making her debut recording appearance on Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s Conspiracy album, Lil' Kim appeared on records by artists such as Mona Lisa, The Isley Brothers, and Total. With recording her debut album, Hard Core was mainly recorded at The Hit Factory in Manhattan, New York City. Working with a number of producers, including Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and Jermaine Dupri, the album featured edgy hardcore rap and explicit sexuality, as the title suggested, which at the time were two territories that had long been the province of male rappers. The album was originally titled "Queen Bee".

Guest artists included Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., and other members of Junior M.A.F.I.A. The promotional campaign for the album, including the album cover, featured provocative advertisements of Kim dressed in a skimpy bikini and surrounded by furs.

During the recording sessions, Kim and B.I.G made a demo for the track "Street Dreams", never released officially.

Singles

The first two singles from Hard Core, the platinum-certified "No Time" and the remix version of "Crush on You" both peaked in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, top 10 of the Hot R&B Singles chart, and topped the Rap Songs chart, making Lil' Kim the first female rap artist to have two consecutive number-one singles on that chart. Both singles peaked in the top 50 of the UK Singles Chart. A third single, "Not Tonight" (Remix), became a huge top 10 success in 1997, peaking at number six on the Hot 100, number three on the Hot R&B Singles chart, and topping the Rap Songs chart. The single also reached the top 20 on the UK chart and number 10 in Germany. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA. It was nominated in 1998 for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

Critical reception

The album received critical acclaim, as The Source called the album "a solid debut because phat beats and rhymes are really all it takes, and they're both present", while Rolling Stone magazine included Hard Core in its list of "Essential Recordings of the 90's". Rolling Stone concluded in reviewing the album in the magazine's 2004 version of The Rolling Stone Album Guide:

Hip-hop had never seen anything like Brooklynite Kimberly Jones at the time of her solo debut: She single-handedly raised the bar for raunchy lyrics in hip-hop, making male rappers quiver with fear with lines like "You ain't lickin' this, you ain't stickin' this . . . I don't want dick tonight/Eat my pussy right" ("Not Tonight"). Riding the wing of Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die and Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt, Kim's Hard Core helped put East Coast hip-hop back on top in the late '90s. The album's overreliance on old '70s funk samples doesn't detract a bit from the Queen Bee's fearless rhymes: In "Dreams", she demands service from R. Kelly, Babyface, and nearly every "R&B dick" in the field. A landmark of bold, hilarious filth.

Commercial performance

Hard Core debuted and peaked at #11 on the US Billboard 200 and #3 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 80,000 copies in its first week. Despite not spending another week inside the top 30, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and had sold 1,489,701 copies in the United States as of November 2011. In Canada, the album peaked at number 62.

Track listing