The Naked Truth is the fourth studio album by American rapper Lil' Kim, released on September 27, 2005. The album was released the same week she started her year-long prison sentence for perjury and it was her last studio album released by Atlantic Records before deciding to part ways in 2008. Two official singles were released from the album: "Lighters Up" as the lead single, released in September 2005, and "Whoa", as the second and final single, in February 2006. The Naked Truth remains the only album by a female rapper to be rated five mics by The Source. The album has sold nearly 500,000 copies in the United States.[1][2]
The first single taken from the album was "Lighters Up". It was released on September 13, 2005, and was a moderate success, peaking at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second, and final, single from the album was "Whoa". Released on February 7, 2006, it was less successful than its predecessor and failed to make the Hot 100. It did manage to chart in the UK, peaking at number 43.
Promotional singles
The first promo single taken from the album was "Shut Up Bitch". For the release the title was censored to "Shut Up". Released to radio on July 12, 2005, the song served as a promotional single for the album and peaked at number 73 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[3] It can be heard at the start of the "Lighters Up" music video. The second promo single was "Spell Check". It was released to US radio as a promo single for the album in December 2005, alongside "Whoa". The song was promoted in the music video for "Whoa" with Kim rapping the first verse and chorus near the end.
The album received generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a rated mean out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 66.[4] In a rare 5 star-ratings,[11]The Source declared The Naked Truth a "fitting title for the superior album that longtime Lil' Kim fans always knew she had in her,"[11] while Joan Morgan, writing for The Village Voice, called it Lil' Kim's "finest album" yet as well as "an easy contender for best rap record of the year."[15]Vibe magazine's Rondell Conway wrote about the album: "With scathing lyricism and infectious beats, Truth validates the Queen Bee's position as the definitive rap vixen."[14]Blender magazine gave the album four stars, calling it her "strongest work since her pheromone-thick 1996 debut."[4] Rating the album 9/10, PopMatters wrote: "All in all, The Naked Truth is a great musical and lyrical effort, as well as a timely response to the media and the peanut gallery. Anybody out there wondering if Kim has the chops to stay in the game should be satisfied now."[8]
Pitchfork journalist Jess Harvell, who gave the album a positive 7.8 rating, stated, "The Naked Truth may be better than 80% of the other rap albums to be released in 2005, but that doesn't make it another Ready to Die."[7] Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club found that The Naked Truth "could benefit from judicious cutting, but for its superior first half at least, it boasts the intimacy of a diary entry and the urgency of a kite sent straight out the penitentiary."[16]Rolling Stone critic Peter Relic felt that The Naked Truth "may be a convincing act of bravado, but it isn't the whole story [...] The vulnerability behind that mask is what's missing here; if she could articulate it, she might have a true classic."[9]Entertainment Weekly's Michael Endelman noted that the album "finds the pint-size fashionista tackling subjects beyond her typical raunchy raps and odes to conspicuous consumption. Her very-real-life drama has inspired some of her most focused work [...] and also some of her worst."[6]
Sal Cinquemani, writing for Slant Magazine, found that "the preemptively defensive album's biggest problem is that it's surely nowhere near as interesting as its yet-to-be-recorded post-slammer follow-up will be."[10] Less impressed, Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times called The Naked Truth a "surprisingly dull album, with too many stale conceits and run-of-the-mill beats. Somehow, an avatar of gaudy overkill has fallen victim to an unlikely weakness: underkill."[17] Andy Kellman from AllMusic rated the album two ouf ot five stars. He wrote: "Hopefully, Kim's year away will leave her refreshed and ready to make a return album that's as exciting and as colorful as Hard Core or La Bella Mafia. This one's a meandering drag."[5] Thomas Inskeep from Stylus Magazine called the album "uninspired" and "calculated" and concluded:"If this is The Naked Truth, she needs to put some clothes on; this is one of 2005’s most thudding disappointments."[12]
Commercial performance
The Naked Truth debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200 and at number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 109,000 copies in its first week.[18] By January 2008, it had sold 412,000 copies domestically.[19]
↑ Fields, Kiah. "HONORING LIL KIM ON HER BIRTHDAY". Retrieved June 9, 2017. Naked Truth was released on the first day of her sentence. This album received the coveted 5 Mics from The Source in 2006 and is to date the only female rap album to receive this honor. The album was certified platinum in the year of its release and ranked in at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart. As of 2015 this album has sold 2.7 million albums worldwide.
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