Lil’ Kim can finally relax. For the first time in four years, the hip-hop diva is not a fugitive from justice in the state of New Jersey.
Her deliverance came earlier this week, when $350 in bail was posted on her behalf. Shortly thereafter, Lil’ Kim, aka Kimberly Jones, was removed from Teaneck’s wanted list.
Lil’ Kim’s legal snafu stems from her 1996 arrest during a raid of the home of late rapper, Notorious B.I.G. She was charged with pot possession, while Biggie was hit with illegal weapons charges.
Biggie never saw his day in court-he was murdered in Los Angeles eight months later. Lil’ Kim opted to skip out on her own court date, presumably operating under the notion that these things take care of themselves. A warrant was issued for her arrest in 1999.
The case made news Monday when the Smoking Gun posted the warrant online. The following day, Kim’s camp forked over the fine.
The rapper’s lawyer, Mel Sachs, said his celeb client had no intention of flouting the law, but believed the case had been settled.
“She wasn’t avoiding the case,” Sachs told New Jersey’s Bergan County Record. “She wants to meet any and all obligations to the court.”
The wanted woman-known better for revealing than concealing herself-hadn’t been making much of an effort to elude the Teaneck PD-she was holed up in her Hillsdale home about 10 miles away.
Nor was Teaneck 5-0 putting their all into capturing Lil’ Kim. Detective Lt. Dean Kazinci said the department had taken a casual approach to her arrest warrant.
“Once we had knowledge of it, we checked out a couple of addresses in New York,” he told the Record. “It wasn’t at the top of our priority list.”
With her legal troubles cleared up for the time being, Lil’ Kim can get back to what’s really important: wearing lil’ amounts of clothing and lotsa bling-bling.
The gaudy Grammy-winner’s latest album, La Bella Mafia, debuted at number five in March; it was her first solo project since 2000’s Notorious K.I.M.
