Say what you will about the present situation between Lil' Kim and Nicki Minaj, but Kim's 'Hard Core' mothered an entire generation of the female rappers that followed.
It earned her a 5 mic rating from The Source, making her the only female rapper to ever receive a 5 mic rating.
The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, the highest debut for a female rap album at that time, and number 3 on Billboard 's , selling 78,000 copies in its first week of release and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.
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The show premiered on July 15 with approximately 1.
The event is held by as a benefit for the of New York.