Lil' Kim defines herself as rap music's Queen Bee, an unstoppable, sexually predatory woman who demands - and gets - money, power and any man she chooses.
But the Grammy Award-winning diva, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, may have to put her Cristal and Cartier lifestyle on hold for a while after she was convicted of perjury this week for lying about a gun battle in 2001 between rival rappers outside a Manhattan radio station.
Jones, 30, was found guilty on Thursday of three counts of perjury and one count of conspiring with a co-defendant to lie before the grand jury. Each count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but it is unlikely that as a first-time offender, she would receive the full sentence.
In a statement issued after her conviction, Jones said: "Throughout my life, I have always lived with adversity and will continue to have faith and do good for my family, friends and fans."
During her trial, Jones - who once boasted on record that "... Police'll never chase us, we too fly for that," - did her best to persuade the jury that Lil' Kim was a just a showbiz persona.
The diminutive artist told of her tough childhood in Brooklyn and appeared in court in ruffled blouses and suits instead of the flesh-baring wardrobe she favours on stage.
It may have had some effect. She and her co-defendant Monique Dopwell, 32, a friend who often accompanied Jones on tour, were acquitted of a more serious charge, obstruction of justice, which could have put them behind bars for up to 10 years.
Jones came to prominence as a member of Junior MAFIA, the New York rap posse lead by her lover, Notorious BIG (aka Christopher Wallace). When he was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in 1997, Jones gathered the clan around her and went solo.
Jones claimed that her expletive-laden odes to bling, sex and money were "all just entertainment". But the events that led to her conviction on Thursday were real.
On February 25 2001 Jones and her entourage encountered a rival rap crew lead by Capone (aka Kiam Holley) outside the Hot 97 radio station in New York's SoHo district. Pistol and machine gun fire was exchanged, and one of Capone's contingent, Efrain Ocasio, was shot in the back and badly injured.
When Jones appeared before a grand jury investigating the gunfight in 2003, she claimed her manager, Damion Butler, was not at the radio station that day. But video footage from a security camera showed him on the scene and firing a pistol.
Jones was also convicted of lying when she claimed she could not recognise a photograph of another member of her rap crew, Suif Jackson. The prosecution proved she and Jackson had been friends for years.
Butler has since been sentenced to 10 years in jail and Jackson is serving a 12-year term for firing an automatic weapon.
Jones will learn her fate when she is sentenced on June 24.
But some are already claiming her brush with the law will do wonders for her career. "This could be the best thing that ever happened to her," said Chuck Creekmur, founder of allhiphop.com. "In hip-hop, tragedy can sometimes equal opportunity. Ask Eminem. Nothing spells money like pain."
