“Kim is the queen…Nicki is a queen in her own right.”
Hip-Hop is a cruel industry. Like nature, its survival of the fittest. Mothers eat their young, young devour their parents, and those who were on top of the food chain eventually become the prey. To be more frank, in Hip-Hop many relish in the downfalls and failures of our legends. This is where Lil Kim finds herself in 2011, as seen by artists and fans alike who jumped at the opportunity to ridicule her over an attempt to sell her latest mixtape project (and her claim it sold 100k in one day). Nonetheless, she’s doing the only thing she can, and that’s see this Nicki Minaj issue to its conclusion with the promised video for “Black Friday.”
As reviewed here a few months back, the actual diss is solid. The video is a memory lane trip, giving clips of Kim in her prime juxtaposed against a scheming, Single White Female type Nicki Minaj and a child inspecting a Minaj barbie. In a nice touch, Kim includes her own barbie theme that she used for her 2000 sophomore album to reinforce the biting accusations.
Diss videos are not common, so it’s interesting even in 2011 to see an emcee take it there. The big problem for Kim is that this came out way too late. Instead of waiting to have the video coincide with her mixtape, the Queen Bee should have dropped this right when the song came out. Much has changed in the three months since the track hit the streets. Minaj has gone platinum off the strength of an SNL appearance and cosigns from other industry stars like Taylor Swift. In other words, Nicki Minaj is for all intents and purposes at the peak of her popularity.
At this point, the veracity of Lil Kim’s claims have become irrelevant. Public sentiment is firmly behind Nicki Minaj no matter what. In some ways, it’s admirable to see Kim not backing down despite most of her peers and even the media standing against her. With that said, it also takes more courage to know when to walk away from drama. I hope Kim recognizes when that time comes.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 
Raw and fly at the same time.