But more on that later! Hip-hop (and R&B) is as full of self-mythologizing bluster as the next genre (you ain’t no killa, Kenny Chesney!), but sometimes we’re amazed at what people try to get away with..which is why we rounded up the biggest fibbers in the biznass. Dear bad liars: try to stay away from polygraphs in the future…

Bo$$
THE LIE: Arguably the first female gangster rapper, Bo$$ talked nonstop about slangin’ in Compton, being a certifiable G-ass killa who was also paradoxically dead broke, and assorted other street tales that were so familiar to the early-’90s West Coast movement. Then came the Wall Street Journal reporter who in 1994 published a story exposing Lichelle Laws’ middle-class upbringing in Detroit–including two deacon parents who constantly sent money to her in L.A.
THE VERDICT: Guilty of affected gangsterism in the first degree! But at the time, she was the biggest Bo$$ that we’d heard thus far.

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AKON
THE LIE: The singer’s entire backstory, as he repeatedly discussed in interviews, revolved around leading a car-theft ring and serving more than four years in prison, including a three-year bid in Georgia. Of course, after The Smoking Gun started looking into things, they planted their gumshoe square in his ass. The reality? That Akon had landed in jail once, for a single stolen car, and served a matter of months before charges were dropped.
THE VERDICT: Might want to rename that record label, potna. In the meantime, can we borrow one of your wives?

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STEVE AUSTIN THE BIONIQ MC
THE LIE: The Dallas-area rapper, who hit the charts with 2007’s “Bussa Move,” claimed in his press release that he’d been in the Marines for four years. After the Marine Corp Times looked into it, they found no record of big homie serving in any military branch.
THE VERDICT: Why would a rapper bother to lie about being a Marine? Guilty, but laaaaaaaaaame!

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LIL KIM
THE LIE: After the infamous 2001 shootout between her crew and Capone’s outside the Hot 97 studios in NYC, the Queen Bee repeatedly told authorities that her manager D-Roc wasn’t involved (and that she didn’t even know her bodyguard C-Gutta).
THE VERDICT: Guilty of federal perjury! Off to the bing went Kimberly Jones for a year and a day. This is the thanks she gets for being loyal to her crew? It’s enough to make someone want to…dance!

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ROXANNE SHANTÉ
THE LIE: The first lady of the Juice Crew claimed that she had made Warner Music pay her way through college and graduate school on her way to getting a Ph.D. Problem was, as Slate has just uncovered, that a) she wasn’t signed to Warner Music (they just distributed her Cold Chillin’ records), b) she only attended her undergraduate college for three months, and c) that despite the claims, she doesn’t possess any college degree, undergraduate, Ph. D., or otherwise.
THE VERDICT: Looks like UTFO’s homegirl The Real Roxanne was actually the real Roxanne. We’ll lay off, though; she’s an icon, and any education is better than no education at all. Hear that, you bum-ass rappers who like to brag about not reading?

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RICK ROSS
THE LIE: Where to begin…Okay, maybe that he was a coke kingpin, that he knew Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and that he had never been a corrections officer–despite irrefutable evidence. BAWSE!
THE VERDICT: Guilty! Now for your sentence: having your label buy tens of thousands of copies of all your albums in order to inflate your first-week sales. *Sad trombone sound*

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Seriously, though: The former 3LW member has already overcome plenty of adversity, from an unceremonious group breakup to harsh words from Lil Kim about her Notorious portrayal. With a starring role in the upcoming Fame remake (out in September), Naturi is ready to leave all the controversy behind. Still, when the lovely Ms. Naughton showed up at Complex last week (entourage-free, mind you), we had to get our Dr. Phil on and allow her to vent a little on the ups and downs of her career thus far. In this edition of YouTubin’ with the Stars, Naturi discusses her breakup with 3LW, her new movie role and why she’s not mad at Lil’ Kim…

Interview by Maurice Slade

CLIP #1: “BABY REMEMBER MY NAME,” COCO FROM FAME TV SHOW (1982)

Naturi says: This video is incredible. It’s kind of funny to look at an old Fame video like this and think that I’m doing a modernized version of this great film from the ’80s. Watching this video helped me realize how fortunate I am because this is a film that a lot of people are familiar with and have had a connection with for a long time. When people hear the theme song from Fame it brings them back to when they were growing up and to be a part of something like that is pretty cool.

CLIP #2: “PARENTS JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND,” LIL’ ROMEO FEAT. 3LW & NICK CANNON (2001)

Naturi says: Oh no! This is a throwback. I cannot believe you guys found this. I haven’t seen this in like forever. Look at Lil’ Romeo. Oh my gosh! This was forever ago. I was like 16 years old. This is from when Nickelodeon just launched Jimmy Neutron. This was the single and theme song for the movie. It’s funny because I just saw Nick Cannon the other day and it’s like, wow, look how much history I’ve had with people in the business. You always end up crossing a person’s path again. That’s why you have to always do right and treat people right. Jessy Terrero shot this actual video. This is actually his directorial debut and now he’s shooting a lot of 50 Cent videos. We had so much fun shooting this video in L.A.

#3: 3LW ON MTV CRIBS (2000)

Naturi says: Oh my gosh! Why are you doing this to me? This is even further back around the time “Playas Gon’ Play” came out. This is in L.A. We lived in L.A. during the process of recording our second album. It’s weird looking at myself that long ago. Look at my clothes and my hair. I would have definitely done a lot of things differently.

CLIP #4: THE 3LW BREAKUP ON MTV TRL

Naturi says: Wow. I remember this. I remember everything. Especially when I see the images. I remember being at home watching this. I watched this live. I really don’t like looking at videos like this and it’s one of those things that’s petty. I look back at moments like those and I just remember that I am so much better and stronger because of all of those moments. So when I look at old videos like this I think, wow, Naturi you are strong, you are blessed, and you are so much bigger then drama. It’s a reminder of where I’ve come from and where I’m at now.

CLIP #5: LIL’ KIM SPEAKS ON HER PORTRAYAL IN NOTORIOUS MOVIE (2009)

Naturi says: Oh. I never saw this… All I have to say is, I didn’t write the script, I didn’t cast, produce or direct. I’m just an actress who put in her work. And as far as her saying that I never reached out to her; that is totally untrue. I would never want to play a real-life person without trying to contact them. The acting that I did is because I had a great director, a great acting coach and great co-stars. We did some great work and I’m not going to water down anything because someone feels like they should have had their way. Who knows it could have worked both ways. Talking to someone and listening to what they have to say could make you nervous—you stop focusing, you start doubting your own work, and you start trying to please them instead of focusing on the acting. I’m an actress and I’m going to do me at the end of the day. It’s no disrespect to anybody but I’m here to do me in this world and I definitely tried my best to have the input of Lil’ Kim and it did not happen. And I have so much respect for Kim. When I got the role I was like, I have to speak to Kim, so I reached out to [Lance] Un [Rivera] and there was conversation after conversation with Un but I never got any feedback from Kim.

Tonight marks the return of Dancing With The Stars (8 p.m., ABC) the show loved by all of America'except you, us and pretty much everybody we know. Yeah, the show is a little lame, but we’ll be keeping closer tabs this season, as Lil’ Kim is putting on her dancing shoes. The ex-GF of B.I.G. (R.I.P., 12 years today) joins randoms like Steve-O, LT and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak(!) as contestants. Nice. We might even catch an episode this season.

In honor of Kim’s debut tonight, we’re giving Brooklyn’s baddest bitch the Wifey or Trifey treatment. Now the answer may seem obvious upon first glance, but perhaps our evidence may sway you. So, is Lil’ Kim a lockdown or a bustdown? Keep reading to see the evidence and cast your vote!


WIFEY: Her face is starting to look normal again.
• You know when you’re really really hungry'like eat-shit hungry'but you don’t eat anything and then eventually you’re not hungry any more? That’s kind of like Kim’s face. Everybody clowned her for getting more and more work done but she’s gotten so much plastic surgery that all of a sudden her face is almost starting to look normal again. Almost.

TRIFEY: But she still has days like these.
• That’s called Nip/(What the)Fuck!?!

Yes, Naughton’s Nickelodeon days are over. She’s all grown up and pushed up, and in honor of her twos coming out to play, Complex looks back with fond memories of her mammaries. Check her 5 breast moments below…

#5: “NOTORIOUS” NYC PREMIERE (2009)

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#4: MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS (2002)

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#3: 3LW’S “I DO” MUSIC VIDEO (2002)

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#2: MARY J BLIGE AFTERPARTY AT SPOTLIGHT LIVE (MAY 2008)

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#1: KING MAGAZINE COVER SHOOT (DEC 2008 ISSUE)

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But what makes Notorious so watchable? Let us count down the reasons why…

5. DEREK LUKE’S UTTER MASTERY OF THE DIDDY BOP.

Luke’s performance as Diddy is less about impersonation and more of an embodiment of the Puff persona. That basically means, Luke doesn’t really look, talk or act exactly like Puffy, but he still manages to deliver an effective portrayal. However, the one thing that Luke has down pat are Puffy’s exaggerated dance moves. Shit, Luke diddy bops better than Diddy! We couldn’t help but laugh every time Luke-as-Puffy jigs across the stage in the movie. You will, too.
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4. THIS DUDE IS LIL’ CEASE? REALLY???

The portrayals in Notorious range from really good (Angela Bassett as Voletta Wallace) to really bad (Anthony Mackie as 2Pac), but one stands out above them all'Marc John Jeffries as Biggie’s sidekick Lil’ Cease. We can’t imagine Cease will be too pleased to see himself played by lil’ dude from Brown Sugar with the Chiclet teeth. He smokes more blunts than a little bit and got mad guns up in the cabin? C’mon fam: He looks about as hard as a velour bathrobe. Jeffries is not a bad actor by any means, but in a film full of spot-on performances, his Lil’ Cease is comically inaccurate. You’ll still enjoy it, though, because it’s that bad.
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3. BAD BOY GOT MAD HITS. MAD HITS.

Y’all musta forgot! Notorious will definitely compel you to go back and cue up the Big library in the iPod'especially since you’ll be wanting to hear the real deal, not the Gravy-as-Big movie versions. Either way, the film is full of Biggie classics, as well as other Bad Boy hits (”You Used to Love Me,” by Faith'fire!). It will make even the staunchest backpacker a little nostalgic about Bad Boy’s reign at the top. And there’s not even a Ma$e in the movie!

CLICK NEXT to see the 2 biggest reasons!

JANICE DICKINSON

JD was a fave back in the day, but now she’s just old (for this earth and this club). Still, she was hot once'until she decided to try to make her eyes disappear.

LIL’ KIM

’90s Babies, wise up: Kimmy was once really cute in an around-the-way-girl sorta way. Then she decided that she wanted her nose to look like Michael Jackson’s. Which ended up ranking just below “not snitching” in terms of bad career moves.

VIVICA FOX

Again with the nose! Hey Viv, why no plasty? Because they inevitably fuck it up, that’s why!

JENNA JAMESON

Thuffering thuccatash! Thath what happenth when you have too many fathials.

TARA REID

Look T, we don’t mean to assperse, but Edward James Olmos called, and he wants his look back.