Lil' Kim brings nostalgia to Vivid Sydney as festival continues

When Lil' Kim hopped offstage and into the crowd during her Vivid Sydney show at Carriageworks, she used it as an opportunity to tell her fans face-to-face just how much she loves them. The feeling was mutual from the roughly 2,500 fans who bought tickets to see her perform live at the venue, housed in a historic railway workshop in the inner-city suburb of Eveleigh on Gadigal land. There were plenty of middle-aged old-school hip-hop fans in the crowd, some among the six million people worldwide who bought a copy of Lil' Kim's seminal debut album, Hard Core, and have treasured it since its 1996 release, which she followed up with The Notorious KIM in 2000. Some diehards in the audience had followed the rapper since she burst onto the scene in 1994 as the only female member of the hip-hop group Junior MAFIA. There were much younger fans there too, perhaps cognisant of the place the rap pioneer occupies in the hip-hop canon. One even pulled down his pants to show off his Lil' Kim tattoo on his thigh, a permanent reminder of how much he loves the rap superstar. Lil' Kim, 51, born Kimberly Denise Jones, first appeared on stage to the remix of the Mobb Deep track Quiet Storm on which she features. The diminutive rapper, who stands around 151 centimetres tall, appeared on stage under a cloud of smoke and to cheers from the audience. "I love you, Sydney," she said. "In the middle right here, make some noise!" With back-up dancers surrounding her, she took command of the mic. "I know I've been gone for a minute but I'm back with the drop," she told the crowd, dropping her body to the beat. It has been 15 years since her last visit to Australia, when she performed at the 2011 Winterbeatz Festival. It's been 15 years since Lil' Kim last performed in Australia. The Vivid concert was billed as a celebration of her first two albums. She has also released the studio albums La Bella Mafia, The Naked Truth, 9, and official mixtapes and singles. But prior to arriving in the country, Lil' Kim asked her Instagram followers which songs from her first two albums she should perform. Suggestions ranged from tracks that were actually on Hard Core and The Notorious KIM — and many that weren't. So, she leaned into that. The audience heard truncated versions of most tracks. The set list included her 50 Cent collaboration Magic Stick, Lighters Up, The Lox's Money, Power Respect, No Time, Crush on You, How Many Licks?, which features Sisqo and Get Money by The Notorious BIG featuring Junior MAFIA. There were screams, cheers and amateur rappers in the crowd rapping along to Big Momma Thang word for word, as well as singing along to the Grammy-award-winning Lady Marmalade — the lead track from the 2001 Moulin Rouge! soundtrack. The audience was not too impressed to hear from Lil' Kim's partner, Tayy Brown. The only time cheers turned to boos was when Lil' Kim brought out her partner, Tayy Brown, who performed a couple of tracks before the two performed Love for Ya together later on. "The first place that song charted was here," Lil' Kim said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." When she got to the Not Tonight remix featuring Da Brat, Left Eye, Missy Elliot and Angie Martinez, Lil' Kim paused on Left Eye's verse. "That song really makes me miss my sister Left Eye," she said of the late TLC star. Lil' Kim then paid tribute to "family who may no longer be with us". The artist will perform at Festival Hall in Melbourne tonight as part of Rising Festival. Lil' Kim was on stage for barely an hour all up. Fans gather to cheer on Barkaa Prior to her set, Malyangapa and Barkindji rapper Barkaa owned the stage, spitting tracks like her cult hit King Brown. It was obvious many in the crowd had specifically bought tickets to see her too. The audience got right behind Barkaa. She was yet to meet Lil' Kim when she performed. "How many licks does it take?" she joked before getting serious. "They say this stuff doesn't happen to women like me ... f*** it does, bro. I've got a story to tell, bro. "I've dreamt of this since I was a little girl. "I remember putting Hard Core in my ears when I was a little girl, listening to Lil' Kim ... so this is f****** surreal, yeah. "Everything I do is for the Black women that look like me, that walk like me, that talk like me. Ain't nothing better than f****** Black women." A pop-up collective of DJs, MCs and performers, Rocky Stallone & Friends, were the initial acts to warm up the crowd.