Twenty one years ago today (Nov.12,1996) the world was introduced to an album that would instantly become a Hip Hop classic, ‘Hardcore‘ by none other than Queen Bee, Lil’ Kim.

Kim’s debut solo album was her first release outside of her musical collective, Junior Mafia, and instantly shot her to super stardom and placed her at the top of the reigning female MC’s at that time. The project debuted at number 11 on the US Billboard 200 and number three on the Billboard‘s Top R&B Albums, selling 78,000 copies in its first week, and reached number 26 of the Canadian Albums Chart and has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide to date.

With success comes criticism and hate. In today’s flashback we take a look at Kim’s visit to ‘The Rolanda Watts Show‘ in 1997. Longtime fans of Kim may recall the controversial interview and recall that, well for lack of better words, Rolanda tried it! Kim was grilled and criticized to no end, and at parts made for a very uncomfortable watch.

In true Queen form, Kim held her own, and despite the attempts to tarnish her, she is still standing 21 years later. Get into it below.