The pint-sized Lil' Kim is hip-hop's "Queen Bee" and the former boo of the late Notorious B.I.G.

A young runaway from a broken home in Brooklyn, Kim dabbled in drug dealing and prostitution before she was rescued at age 16 by Chris "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, who inducted her into his Junior M.A.F.I.A rap group. While romancing the young Kim, Biggie helped her improve her rhymes, and gave her airtime on his own singles like "Get Money." In 1996, she launched a solo career with the album Hard Core, but the raunchy lyricist was dealt a blow a year later when Biggie was murdered. She briefly took a break from recording, but bounced back with a handful of modeling gigs (for Candies, Versace, and Baby Phat), and released her second album, The Notorious K.I.M., in 2000. Both her second record and her 2003 follow-up La Bella Mafia went platinum, and she won a Grammy for her huge hit collaboration ""Lady Marmalade" but her career hit a major snag in 2005 when she was sent to prison for perjury. She was released amid a flurry of flashbulbs in mid-2006.

Kim did hard time for perjury in 2005 after lying in court about a hip-hop grudge-related shooting outside of the Hot 97 radio station. She was sentenced to 12 months, but released after 10 for good behavior and then spent another month under house arrest. Her preparations for jail time were documented on the exploitative (and hilarious) BET reality show, Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown. However, she returned to the mainstream public spotlight with her appearance on Dancing with the Stars, where her proclivity for X-rated costumes fit in perfectly. [Image via Getty]