Lil’ Kim says her new album is "definitely coming out this year".
The 42-year-old rapper has been working on her fifth studio venture – her first since 2005’s ‘The Naked Truth’ – entitled ‘Black Widow’, and has said she doesn’t have a "specific date" for the release of the record because she’s still working on getting people in the studio to collaborate with her.
She said: "I don’t have a specific date, but it’s definitely coming out this year. I have a couple people I want to work with. I’m not gonna tell you who but there’s a few people I want to work with, so I’m just getting those people together and getting them on the album. With me traveling, performing and doing music, it’s kind of hard. Plus, I got my baby so I’m just levelling everything now. But I’m going hard."
And the ‘How Many Licks’ hitmaker – who has two-year-old daughter Royal Reign with fellow rapper Mr. Papers – says being a mother hasn’t changed her "approach" to making music, but admits it has had an impact on "how" she has to work.
When asked if being a mother changes her approach to making music, the ‘Crush on You’ musician said: "Nah, it doesn’t change how I approach music, but it changes how I have to work, because I got a baby now. Before, I could be in the studio long, long hours. I could stay in the studio from one o’clock in the afternoon to one o’clock the next afternoon and it’s all good but I got a baby now."
Lil’ Kim – real name Kimberly Denise Jones – also admits she’s "not changing anything" about her sound just because she has a child.
She told Billboard magazine: "So I’m gonna work and I’m gonna do what I do. But I’m not changing anything because I don’t hide anything from my daughter. I also don’t allow her to be disrespectful. I don’t allow her to do certain things. A child should stay in a child’s place and a baby should be babied.
"I can’t change who I am because that’s when things change. I’m not gonna become a gospel rapper. That’s the only thing left I could do, and it’s not that. So at the end of the day, I’m still gonna be who I am, and I will teach my child as we grow, the difference between certain music.
"Being a mom is not going to change my content in my music, but it will change the approach in how I work. I’m a mom and I’m always with my baby, and I got to make sure my baby is good myself because nobody is gonna make sure my baby’s good the way I do."
Lil’ Kim’s album due ‘this year’
