Y’all ready to relive Y2K? All year long the Rewind column will revisit the year 2000, celebrating great releases that will mark 25 years in 2025. I’ll be joined by a host of old friends as we look back at a new millennium of music.

After months of delays, we finally received the much anticipated follow-up to Lil Kim’s landmark Hard Core album. But by 2000 a lot had changed – Biggie was gone, hip-hop was expanding into the mainstream and Kim was positioning herself as a pop star. How did The Notorious KIM fare in those changing times? LaToya Hagler comes through to talk about the return of the original Queen Bee.

Here we go! Share your initial thoughts of hearing Kim’s sophomore project.

LaToya: Funny story. I didn’t start rocking with Kim until I read her 20 page interview in Sister2Sister (If you are old to enough remember those, how’s that lower back pain?). But after that I was all in. I wasn’t technically allowed to listen to her music but I convinced my mom to let me buy the clean version of this album. Then of course I swapped it out with my big cousin for the “real” version. Thanks to the trusty discman I was able to rock this album as a 16 year old with no car. I remember loving the storytelling in the intro and a few tracks stood out. But this one did have way more skips for me than Hard Core.

Edd: I was a big fan of Lil Kim in her heyday and I was more than ready for her to deliver her longggg delayed sophomore album. This must be how Cardi B fans feel today. Anyway, after endless delays and false starts (more on that later), we finally got our hands on it in June 2000 and, at the time, I thought it was a very mixed bag. Kim was always known for her big radio hits but I wasn’t feeling “No Matter What They Say” that much. Felt too silly and gimmicky. Besides a few tracks here and there, the project didn’t stay in my rotation very long.

However, when I went back to rank her albums decades later for this very site, I enjoyed The Notorious KIM a little more in the modern era. Sure, some of her attempts to incorporate other genres were jarring and a couple of songs were outright lame but the creative experiments were fun in hindsight. There’s much more I like than I dislike today. Plus I’m pretty sure I’m the only brother alive who doesn’t hate “I’m Human.”

What’s the best song on the project?

LaToya: “Aunt Dot”

This song blew my mind the first time I heard it. Did she really go there? My fave Kim is “mob Kim” and combine that with the taboo topic of menstruation? My teenage heart felt seen. I was hanging on her every word for how the story would end. And introducing the Lil Shanice character? Perfection.

Edd: “Aunt Dot”

Remember when I said only a couple of songs stayed in my rotation in 2000. “Aunt Dot” was No. 1 with a bullet – appropriate because Aunt Dot was ’bout that life. Kim doesn’t flex her storytelling muscles enough but when she does, she rarely misses (see “Not Tonight” and “Money Talks,” for example). And this mafioso tale about Kim taking in her niece while her aunt orchestrates a hit on Kim’s enemies is as cinematic as they come. Kim playing all three characters like Martin Lawrence was a ton of fun too (BTW, Lil Shanice was Kim here, but we’d get the real Shanice on “Shake Ya Bum Bum” years later – another guilty pleasure Kim song for me).

I can’t believe we never got the promised sequel to this track. Stop playing with us, Kim!

And what’s the best video?

LaToya: “How Many Licks”

This was definitely her pop star moment. I feel like this concept has been copied a bunch since then (cough Katy Perry) but props to the OG Queen Bee. This video even got love on TRL.

Edd: “How Many Licks”

Well, there’s not much to choose from. “No Matter What They Say” was just Kim’ n friends trying on outfits and being rowdy. “How Many Licks” is way more memorable and, like LaToya said, is a clear inspiration for a generation of pop stars to follow. Sex Doll Kim caused a bit of a stir at the time too, proving that controversy over suggestive imagery isn’t some new concept. Kim was pissing off the censors before some of y’all were born.

Which album cut should have been a single?

LaToya: “Don’t Mess With Me”

This song had that heat and the video would have been amazing. I have concepts. This was one of the better hooks on the album and that’s all you really need for a hit single. Add in Kim’s signature brashness and you can’t go wrong with radio.

Edd: “Don’t Mess With Me”

I almost went with “Hold On,” until I realized that it was realized to radio. Never heard it in my neck of the woods, though. So instead I’ll follow LaToya’s lead and rock with “Don’t Mess With Me.” Not sure how well it would fare on urban radio but I could see it appealing to the TRL crowd. The 2000s was the era of the fed-up pop star and a video of Kim destroying her ex’s apartment and torching his car would have been fitting.

What’s the most underrated track here?

LaToya: “Hold On”

Whew! This was of course not the official Biggie tribute song but it might be the best. Between Kim mourning a child she didn’t keep to Mary’s wailing and repeated “Kimberly,” this one feels almost too personal. But that’s what makes a great song. Raw. Real. Hard to listen to but essential nonetheless.

Edd: “Notorious KIM”

Though I get it now – Kim was aiming for that pop crossover appeal – I was surprised at that time that this album drifted away from Kim’s hard core hip-hop persona (no pun intended). The title track is one of the few moments we got the gritty bars and harder edge of Kim’s initial outings. Rockwilder went hard on the beat and the Biggie sample was the perfect compliment. It’s largely forgotten today but it was one of my favorites way back then.

Of all the guest stars here, who went the hardest?

LaToya: Redman on “Lil Drummer Boy”

Redman wins this by default as the features here were definitely lacking. I would say the singers brought way more than the rappers. I think I had erased that terrible Diddy verse on “Queen B**** 2” completely from my memory. But still props to Redman for matching the energy on “Lil Drummer Boy” for the hilarious courtroom scene. Ironic with how much Diddy’s imprint is on this album. But let’s move on….

Edd: Lil Shanice on “Aunt Dot”

LOL I see what you did there, LaToya! But I feel you, most of the features feel more like drops for name value (Grace Jones) or obligations to her buddies (Puff, Junior MAFIA). Judge Redman and Defense Attorney Cee-Lo Green are fun, but I’m going to cheat and give the best feature to Lil Shanice. Yeah, it’s basically Kim on helium but her verse is one of the best on the whole album: “Anything goes when it comes to bankrolls/Diamonds on my toes, X-and-O’s/Verrrrrrsace hottie in designer clothes” – Lil Kimnice was SPITTING. Also she called Barney and Lambchop hoes, and that still cracks me up 25 years later.

Which beat is your favorite?

LaToya: “Don’t Mess With Me”

This one grabbed me out of the gate with the motorcycle screech. The track pretty much never lets up from there. This might be one of Kanye’s most underrated samples and Kim floated on it for sure.

Edd: “Aunt Dot”

Once again, I stan in the presence of the Kim Crime Family. Aunt Dot’s menacing production, courtesy of Mario Winans, isn’t flashy but it makes a statement and is the perfectly compliment to the album’s storytelling. You can make a case for “No Matter What They Say,” which was clearly meant to move the crowd, but I’m more concerned with the next chapter in Aunt Dot’s revenge plot. That impact puts it over the top.

This album was infamously bootlegged, causing its release to be delayed eight months and lots of songs were recorded to fill out the final version of the project. Do you think those delays and revisions hurt the final product?

LaToya: Listening to this album now it seems a little unfocused. Almost like there were two directions for the album and instead of choosing they just included both. Singing Kim definitely didn’t work for me on this album.

Edd: It definitely hurt it. I’ve heard the original bootleg version of the album and honestly it wasn’t much to write home about. Retooling it clearly was a rush job but I prefer many of the new additions to what we got. I think the main reason for the album’s mixed reception is bigger than bootlegs and retoolings – the label wanted to position Kim as a pop star while also maintain her street cred, and they weren’t able to pull off the balance in either version of the project.

Kim’s legacy in modern hip-hop has been heavily debated. How does this album play into that legacy?

LaToya: I feel like this is the album that unfortunately gave us Nicki Minaj (or at least her persona after she got signed). I admire the foray into different sounds but this was definitely someone pushing her to be more pop. I feel like this album was a detour for her. There are some essential Kim tracks and a lot of forgettable filler. Overall I don’t think it hurts her legacy but her best work was yet to come.

Edd: Yep, I don’t think this project hurts Kim’s legacy. Honestly, it seems like folks skip over this one entirely when discussing her work. Kim is seen as a pioneer in many facets of the game: the gorgeous girl holding her own in a male dominated crew, the wild fashions, the importance of embracing her femininity and sexuality – all of these became defining factors for female MCs for the next 25 years. But that legacy is rooted in Kim’s debut album, her showstopping videos like “Crush on You” and her more successful pop outings like “Lady Marmalade.” Notorious KIM seems to be just a footnote in that story.

Where would you rank The Notorious KIM among Lil Kim’s albums?

LaToya: I think Kim’s discography is pretty solid. That being said Notorious Kim would have to be at the bottom (apologies to high school me).

Edd: If you don’t count Kim’s atrocious 2019 album – and I’m willing to bet 90% of y’all forgot that album existed – Notorious KIM does wind up in the rear of Kim releases. Not because it’s horrible – I’ve made the case several times in this post that it’s probably better than you remember – but, as LaToya said, Kim’s discography is pretty strong. Notorious KIM is the only album (minus the 9 album)  that I’d classify as just OK. Everything else? Good to great. If you haven’t heard this album in awhile, or never experienced it at all, it’s worth a skim. If nothing else, you’ll get to meet Aunt Dot. That’s worth the price of admission.

Who are you riding with, LaToya or Edd? Share your thoughts about The Notorious KIM below.