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The Naked Truth (Lil' Kim album)

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The Naked Truth
Studio album by
Lil' Kim
ReleasedSeptember 27, 2005 (2005-09-27)
Length76:31
Label
Producer
Lil' Kim chronology
La Bella Mafia
(2003) 		The Naked Truth
(2005) 		9
(2019)
Singles from The Naked Truth
  1. "Lighters Up"
    Released: July 10, 2005
  2. "Whoa"
    Released: February 7, 2006

The Naked Truth is the fourth studio album by American rapper Lil' Kim, released on September 27, 2005. The album was released the same week she started her year-long prison sentence for perjury and it was her last studio album released by Atlantic Records before deciding to part ways in 2008. Two official singles were released from the album: "Lighters Up" as the lead single, released in September 2005, and "Whoa", as the second and final single, in February 2006. The Naked Truth remains the only album by a female rapper to be rated five mics by The Source. The album has sold nearly 500,000 copies in the United States.[1][2]

Singles

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The first single taken from the album was "Lighters Up". It was released on September 13, 2005, and was a moderate success, peaking at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second, and final, single from the album was "Whoa". Released on February 7, 2006, it was less successful than its predecessor and failed to make the Hot 100. It did manage to chart in the UK, peaking at number 43.

Promotional singles

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The first promo single taken from the album was "Shut Up Bitch". For the release the title was censored to "Shut Up". Released to radio on July 12, 2005, the song served as a promotional single for the album and peaked at number 73 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[3] It can be heard at the start of the "Lighters Up" music video. The second promo single was "Spell Check". It was released to US radio as a promo single for the album in December 2005, alongside "Whoa". The song was promoted in the music video for "Whoa" with Kim rapping the first verse and chorus near the end.

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic66/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[6]
Pitchfork7.8/10[7]
PopMatters[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
Slant Magazine[10]
The Source[11]
Stylus MagazineD−[12]
Vibe[13][14]

The album received generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a rated mean out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 66.[4] In a rare 5 star-ratings,[11] The Source declared The Naked Truth a "fitting title for the superior album that longtime Lil' Kim fans always knew she had in her,"[11] while Joan Morgan, writing for The Village Voice, called it Lil' Kim's "finest album" yet as well as "an easy contender for best rap record of the year."[15] Vibe magazine's Rondell Conway wrote about the album: "With scathing lyricism and infectious beats, Truth validates the Queen Bee's position as the definitive rap vixen."[14] Blender magazine gave the album four stars, calling it her "strongest work since her pheromone-thick 1996 debut."[4] Rating the album 9/10, PopMatters wrote: "All in all, The Naked Truth is a great musical and lyrical effort, as well as a timely response to the media and the peanut gallery. Anybody out there wondering if Kim has the chops to stay in the game should be satisfied now."[8]

Pitchfork journalist Jess Harvell, who gave the album a positive 7.8 rating, stated, "The Naked Truth may be better than 80% of the other rap albums to be released in 2005, but that doesn't make it another Ready to Die."[7] Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club found that The Naked Truth "could benefit from judicious cutting, but for its superior first half at least, it boasts the intimacy of a diary entry and the urgency of a kite sent straight out the penitentiary."[16] Rolling Stone critic Peter Relic felt that The Naked Truth "may be a convincing act of bravado, but it isn't the whole story [...] The vulnerability behind that mask is what's missing here; if she could articulate it, she might have a true classic."[9] Entertainment Weekly's Michael Endelman noted that the album "finds the pint-size fashionista tackling subjects beyond her typical raunchy raps and odes to conspicuous consumption. Her very-real-life drama has inspired some of her most focused work [...] and also some of her worst."[6]

Sal Cinquemani, writing for Slant Magazine, found that "the preemptively defensive album's biggest problem is that it's surely nowhere near as interesting as its yet-to-be-recorded post-slammer follow-up will be."[10] Less impressed, Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times called The Naked Truth a "surprisingly dull album, with too many stale conceits and run-of-the-mill beats. Somehow, an avatar of gaudy overkill has fallen victim to an unlikely weakness: underkill."[17] Andy Kellman from AllMusic rated the album two ouf ot five stars. He wrote: "Hopefully, Kim's year away will leave her refreshed and ready to make a return album that's as exciting and as colorful as Hard Core or La Bella Mafia. This one's a meandering drag."[5] Thomas Inskeep from Stylus Magazine called the album "uninspired" and "calculated" and concluded:"If this is The Naked Truth, she needs to put some clothes on; this is one of 2005’s most thudding disappointments."[12]

Commercial performance

[edit]

The Naked Truth debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200 and at number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 109,000 copies in its first week.[18] By January 2008, it had sold 412,000 copies domestically.[19]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)ProducerLength
1."Intro"Dan Humiston
  • Dan The Man
  • Big Hill
0:39
2."Spell Check"
Red Spyda3:39
3."Lighters Up"
Scott Storch4:23
4."Shut Up Bitch Intro"  0:56
5."Shut Up Bitch"
  • Jones
  • Michael "Mr. Williams" Williams
  • Roger Greene
  • Williams
  • Mista Raja
4:19
6."Whoa"
Rotem4:08
7."Slippin'"
Mr. Porter4:16
8."Answering Machine Skit 1"  2:27
9."All Good"
Jeekyman4:31
10."I Know You See Me" (featuring Tiny)
Cates3:53
11."W.P.I.M.P. Skit" Dan The Man0:30
12."Quiet" (featuring The Game)
  • Jones
  • Williams
  • Greene
  • Williams
  • Mista Raja
4:02
13."Durty"
  • Jones
  • Keith Johnson
  • Martha Velez
  • Millie Jackson
  • Randy Klein
  • Terrance "Hot Runner" Lovelace
Lovelace4:10
14."Answering Machine Skit 2"  2:23
15."We Don't Give a Fuck" (featuring Bun B and Twista)
Lovelace4:22
16."Gimme That" (featuring Maino)
Jeekyman4:27
17."Kitty Box"
Channel 73:49
18."Kronik" (featuring Snoop Dogg and Jack Knight)
Fredwreck4:32
19."Winners and Losers Skit"  0:57
20."Get Yours" (featuring T.I. and Sha-Dash)
Cates4:09
21."Last Day"
  • Jones
  • Rotem
J.R. Rotem4:29
22."Last Day Skit"  5:30
Total length:76:31

Sample credits

Personnel

[edit]
  • Kimberly "Lil' Kim" Jones – executive producer
  • Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace – executive producer
  • Craig Kallman – executive producer
  • Hillary Weston – co-executive producer, manager
  • Jean Nelson – co-executive producer, A&R
  • Gee Roberson – co-executive producer, A&R
  • Dre Weston – A&R
  • Kyambo "HipHop" Joshua – A&R
  • Lanre Gaba – A&R administrator
  • Jamel Jackson – product manager
  • Veronica Alvericci – product manager
  • Dan the Man for Dan Man Productions – engineer
  • Chris Gehringer – mastering
  • Will Quinell – assistant mastering engineer
  • L. Londell McMillian – legal affairs
  • Berdon LLP – business affairs
  • Deborah Mannis-Gardiner – sample clearances
  • Robert D'Este – photography (cover and page 12)
  • Roger Erickson – photography (outside inlay and pages 2–11)
  • Patty Wilson – styling
  • Kithe Brewster – styling
  • Will Robinson – hair
  • JJ – makeup
  • Andrew Zach – art producer
  • Ellen To – art direction, design
  • Alex Kirzhner – design

Charts

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Fields, Kiah. "HONORING LIL KIM ON HER BIRTHDAY". Retrieved June 9, 2017. Naked Truth was released on the first day of her sentence. This album received the coveted 5 Mics from The Source in 2006 and is to date the only female rap album to receive this honor. The album was certified platinum in the year of its release and ranked in at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart. As of 2015 this album has sold 2.7 million albums worldwide.
  2. ^ Tomlinson, Bee. "Baller Alert's Today in Hip-Hop: Lil' Kim Released 'The Naked Truth". Retrieved September 29, 2017. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, selling 156,000 copies in its first week. To this date, it has sold over 2.7 million copies worldwide.
  3. ^ "Lil' Kim Revealing 'Naked Truth' Pre-Prison". Billboard. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  4. ^ a b c "The Naked Truth Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Kellman, Andy (September 27, 2005). "The Naked Truth – Lil' Kim". AllMusic. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Endelman, Michael (October 21, 2005). "The Naked Truth Review". Entertainment Weekly. No. 846. p. 75. Archived from the original on August 27, 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Harvell, Jess (November 21, 2005). "Lil' Kim: The Naked Truth". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Huff, Quentin (December 20, 2005). "Lil' Kim: The Naked Truth". PopMatters. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  9. ^ a b Relic, Peter (October 20, 2005). "The Rolling Stone Review: The Naked Truth by Lil' Kim". Rolling Stone. p. 76. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  10. ^ a b Cinquemani, Sal (2005). "Lil' Kim, The Naked Truth". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on September 8, 2006. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  11. ^ a b c Harris, Michael "Ice-Blue" (October 2005). "Record Report: Lil Kim – Naked Truth". The Source. No. 192. New York. Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  12. ^ a b Inskeep, Thomas (October 12, 2005). "Lil' Kim, The Naked Truth". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on December 11, 2005. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  13. ^ Conway, Rondell (December 2005). "Revolutions: Lil' Kim – The Naked Truth". Vibe. Vibe Media Group. p. 210. ISSN 1070-4701. Archived from the original on January 29, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  14. ^ a b Conway, Rondell (November 2, 2005). "Lil' Kim - The Naked Truth (Atlantic)". Vibe. Archived from the original on November 7, 2005. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  15. ^ Morgan, Joan (November 9, 2005). "From a Different Place". The Village Voice. Vol. 50, no. 45. p. C88. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  16. ^ Rabin, Nathan (October 5, 2005). "Lil' Kim: The Naked Truth". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  17. ^ Sanneh, Kelefa (September 26, 2005). "New CD's". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  18. ^ Mar, Alex (October 5, 2005). "Gretchen Wilson, Sheryl Crow Are Tops on the Chart". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  19. ^ Crosley, Hillary (January 22, 2008). "Lil' Kim Parts Ways With Atlantic". Billboard. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  20. ^ "ネイキッド・トゥルース リル・キムのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  21. ^ "Lil' Kim Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  22. ^ "Lil' Kim Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  23. ^ "Lil' Kim Chart History (Top Rap Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  24. ^ "Year End 2005 – Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 14, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2014.

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