On her sophomore disc,
Notorious K.I.M., rap vixen Lil' Kim was both grieving the loss of -- and trying to emerge from the shadow of -- her slain mentor and lover, the
Notorious B.I.G. Although that disc had some winning moments, Kim fares better at establishing her own identity on her self-produced third disc,
La Bella Mafia. What that identity is, however -- beyond a kinky young woman with an affinity for mobsters, plastic surgery, and shopping sprees -- is still a bit hazy. Although blindly boastful lyrics such as, "Y'all get your diamonds from Jacob/I ain't mad at cha/I get mine straight out the Kimberly gold mine in Africa" won't win her any points for being socially conscious (or too bright), love her or hate her, Kim is still the most captivating female rapper in the biz. Continuing in the sexually explicit and materialistic vein of her previous discs, Lil' Kim sounds the most energized on the percussive, Timbaland-produced "The Jump Off"; the Scott Storch club thumper "(When Kim Say) Can You Hear Me Now?," featuring
Missy Elliott; and the bluesy,
R. Kelly–produced "This Is a Warning," on which Kim sounds a tongue-in-cheek alarm to her rap rivals. In case that track missed its intended targets, Kim reloads on "Came Back for You," where she spits venomous rhymes like: "It's enough I got to put up with this doo-doo Brown chick...Keep your tacky ways/And go back to your stripper days/As long as I'm around/You 'gon bow down." Looks like
Foxy and
Eve better take cover. With
La Bella Mafia, Lil' Kim reclaims her throne as rap's reigning Queen Bee.
