Still on the fence with whether Kim looks pretty. It's tough, she looks NOTHING like she used to and I'm often amazed by how I have to HEAR it's Lil Kim in a pic before I really SEE her. Still she's styled up and dressed up right and despite the jarring difference there's definitely some pretty there.

Past pretty she looks happy and that's all that matters.

I wish her luck with her career but I won't lie, I think the music game has changed too much for a significant come back. She could come back and surprise me with huge numbers but the world has not been kind to music stars from the '90's.

Folks can and will gush about Kim's numbers but the truth remains that success was in a different era of technology and music:

No iTunes.
No one simply buying singles for .99.
No illegal downloads.
No leaks.
Hip hop/Rap/R& B was the focus of the music industry.
Female rap was in it's prime.

Can't discount Kim's success but her success isn't a barometer by which to judge Nicki. Let's be real, Kim was making money during a time where if you wanted to illegally get a CD you had to find a dude on the corner selling CD's.

Hate her or love her Nicki is the only popular female rapper in the scene now. Laugh at her numbers and how long it took her to go platinum but then say what other female rapper went platinum this year, last year, the year before that. Check iTunes top 10 or Hip Hop 100 and see her competition is MEN. women are barely on the list let alone near the top. She's one of the few female rappers in history to be getting mainstream success and be featured on shows catering to an audience thats not 100% black. It's not how many singles, music videos, or features it's...so who else is making videos? Who else is in demand for features? Who else is even putting out singles on the female rap scene consistently?

In the end Kim and Nicki will have to be on the scene at the same time to judge because comparing past success to present success is laughable. Kim was good but she wasn't pulling down MJ numbers. She had a lot working in her favor that isn't available to ANYONE right now. All that can be done is to wait and see.