By Tai Saint Louis
Atlantic Records has issued a statement regarding the status of their longtime artist Lil' Kim.
"We wish Lil' Kim the best of luck in all of her future endeavours," reps for the label told AllHipHop.com exclusively, confirming her departure from the label.
Atlantic issued the statement after Lil’ Kim, born Kimberly Jones, told DJ Kay Slay last week that she felt no resentment towards her former label home, and that with her increased knowledge of the music business, she now feels more comfortable with the idea of releasing her music independently.
Lil' Kim spent over a decade on Atlantic Records, releasing her first of four albums on the label, beginning with Hardcore, in 1996.
With the success of her first two singles, the Diddy-assisted "No Time" and "Not Tonight," which was released as an all-star remix featuring Angie Martinez, Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopez, and Missy Elliot, Hardcore sold over a million records within seven months of it's release.
Hardcore was certified two-times platinum by the RIAA in 2001.
Her subsequent two releases, 2000's Notorious K.I.M. and 2003's La Bella Mafia, were both RIAA-certified platinum releases.
Kim's last album The Naked Truth was released two months after she was sentenced to a year and one day in jail on conspiracy and purjury charges.
The album failed to match her previous successes, moving almost 400,000 copies to date.
While Lil Kim is rumored to be heading over to Imperial Records, Capitol/EMI's independent branch, which also counts Fat Joe among the artists on its roster, reps for Imperial told AllHipHop.com that Lil Kim has not been signed to the label as of press time.