Profession: Rapper

Surprised? Of course not. Back before all the plastic surgery and the increasingly desperate grasps at remaining relevant, Lil Kim was a pint-sized Brooklyn ’round-the-way girl with a quick wit, a disgusting mouth, and a cat to write home about (or so we've heard). Biggie's protege—and, for a time, lover—Kim first captured hip-hop's attention on the Ready to Die interlude "Fuck Me," a raunchy skit that finds her talking all sorts of shit (including "you black, Kentucky Fried Chicken-eatin' motherfucker") while Biggie does the damn thing. Kim spent the rest of the decade flaunting everything—her body, her mouth, her outfits (including an appearance at the 1999 MTV Music Awards in a purple, um, dress that featured a bared breast and a pasty)—and causing a scene everywhere she went. She was a spectacle...but a sexy one.