Back in December, Queen Bee Lil’ Kim mentioned in an interview that she was hanging out at her old record label and working on a new album to be released in 2016, and yesterday, she dropped the first glimpse of the upcoming record. Following a couple of remixes (she reworked Omarion’s “I’m Up” in December and welcomed Desiigner to “the royal Brooklyn family” with a remix of “Panda” a few days ago), the rapper is officially back at it with her first solo single since 2009.
Titled “#Mine,” the sexually charged track features Louisiana rapper Kevin Gates, whose January release Islah has received serious praise. Gates might just be the best candidate to keep up with Kim’s bold and empowered personality, which shows here as much as ever. In fact, his contribution is more than a feature — the song is a constant back-and-forth between the two rappers, telling the sexscapade from both the male and female perspectives. Kim’s quick-witted bars bounce off Gates’ wavering vocals as they travel from cunnilingus for breakfast to conjugal visits (Kim will “hold it down if you go to prison”) to putting a Beyoncé-worthy ten carat ring on it. The track is a really strong preview of what will be Kim’s fifth studio album since The Naked Truth way back in 2005. With “everybody watching all that ass she got behind her” now, Kim is situating herself right back on the throne.
Credits
Text Blair Cannon
Photography Kathy Lo