Lil Kim Brings Out Missy Elliott, Eve For NYC Show

Last night (May 18), Lil' Kim brought her "Return of the Queen" tour to Bronx's Paradise Theater for a comeback show that promised surprise guests as well as billed opening actsSaigon, Papoose, Cassidy and Shyheim. Her rolodex still runs deep, with rappers including Missy Elliott, Eve, Juelz Santana, host, "Mob Wives" star Drita D'Avanzo, and Fred Da Godson gracing the stage during the hourlong set. But despite several awkward pauses where she vanished backstage, the Brooklyn native carried the show, working the enraptured audience with a live band in tow. 

Opening the performance with her tongue-twisting "Queen Bitch," the pint-sized rapstress had a gutsy presence, hitting choreographed cues with a team of backup dancers in front of stagehands waving flags sporting images of her first three album covers. Kimmy Blanco, clad in a red military jacket over a tan body suit, paid no mind to the muddled sound as she ripped through hits including "Big Momma Thang," "How Many Licks" and "The Jump Off." She continued to blaze through her discography, shedding a few clothing items as the ample crowd chanted along to cuts like "Lighters Up" and "Magic Stick." 

Just one day after her explosive interview on Power 105's The Breakfast Club, Kim largely ignored her feud with Nicki Minaj, save for a brief verse from "Black Friday." Instead, she kept the mood light, enlisting "Mob Wives" tough girl Drita D'Avanzo to take the spotlight to nimbly rap Kim's verse from "All About the Benjamins." After a lengthy pause halfway through the show, Kim brought out Juelz Santana to perform his portion of Lloyd Banks' "Beamer Benz or Bentley (Remix)." 

The Year in Country: Taylor Swift Spoke Up

This ain't your granddad's country music. Today's country stars are just as at home on the pop charts as they are on the country tallies. Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, the Band Perry and Jason Aldean, among others, all made their mark in other genres in 2011.

Year In Music Main Page: See All The 2011 Charts

Swift, who was honored this month as Billboard's Woman of the Year, made it a point to invite pop (and a few country) stars onstage during her Speak Now world tour, including Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida, Usher, Justin Bieber, Jason Mraz and Kenny Chesney. The Country Music Association (CMA) and Academy of Country Music both named her their entertainer of the year, and she picked up Billboard Music Awards to boot.

In our 2011 year-end recap, Swift scores the Top Country Artist nod and her 2010 release, "Speak Now," leads the year-end Top Country Albums recap.

This was also quite a year for Lady Antebellum, the trio of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, which placed near the top in several categories, including its ranking as the Top Duo or Group of the Year (No. 3 overall). The threesome placed two of its Capitol Nashville albums in the top 10 of the Top Country Albums category: at No. 4 is Need You Now and at No. 6 is Own the Night, which topped the Billboard 200 in September after selling 347,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The act ranks second on the Country Albums Artist list, behind Swift.

In November, Lady A picked up its third straight CMA Award for vocal group of the year, and earlier this year it nabbed five Grammy Awards and a Billboard Music Award.

If any act in country music had a breakthrough year, it was sibling trio the Band Perry. Not only did Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry reach No. 1 on Hot Country Songs in late 2010 with "If I Die Young," the song also hit No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. It tops the year-end Country Digital Songs list , and the act's self-titled debut album finishes at No. 7 on the Top Country Albums recap.

Jason Aldean, who married country and rap on his hit "Dirt Road Anthem" is the top ranked male vocalist on the Top Artist list, coming in at No. 2 overall. He performed the tune at the 2011 CMT Music Awards with Ludacris, no less. Aldean's duet with Kelly Clarkson, "Don't You Wanna Stay," was not only a country hit, but also charted on the Adult Contemporary Songs recap. The Georgia native is also gaining momentum on the touring front, recently winning the Breakthrough Award at the Billboard Touring Conference & Awards.

Blake Shelton may not have crossed over in the traditional sense, but he surely paved some pop culture in-roads in 2011 as one of four coaches on NBC's "The Voice" alongside Maroon 5's Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green. It was arguably his best year at country radio, scoring his fourth and fifth straight No. 1s on Hot Country Songs, a streak that dates back to 2009. It's no surprise then that he leads the Hot Country Songs Artists recap for the year, placing "Honey Bee" at No. 8 on the Hot Country Songs recap.

The top spot on the year-end Hot Country Songs chart belongs to the Eli Young Band, which had the year's biggest hit with "Crazy Girl." It marked the first trip to the top of Hot Country Songs for the Texas foursome, which had previously failed to crack the top 10 in five attempts dating back to 2007.

The youth movement in country music continued in 2011. Among the top 10 on the Hot Country Songs Artists recap, the sole veteran is Chesney (No. 5 on the list), who scored his first Billboard top 10 airplay single in 1995. The rest of this recap roster all achieved their first hits in the past six years, including Aldean (2005), Swift (2006), Lady Antebellum (2007), Young (2009), Zac Brown Band (2008) and Bryan (2007). The trend is even more apparent on the year-end Top Country Albums Artists tally. There, Paisley (No. 7), who released his debut album in 1999, finds himself the senior member of a group that also includes this year's "American Idol" winner, Scotty McCreery, who is No. 9.

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This Day in Music News: January 14th

Born on this day: 

1938, Alain Toussaint, US singer, songwriter

1944, Linda Jones, US soul singer

1967, Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne Band

1968, James Todd Smith, (L.L. Cool J)

1969, Dave Grohl, drummer, guitarist, singer, singer, Nirvana, Foo Fighters

1982, Caleb Followill, lead singer, rhythm guitarist, Kings of Leon

1964, The Beatles (minus Ringo Starr, who was fog-bound in Liverpool) departed from Liverpool for Paris, France for an 18-day run at the Olympia Theatre. Arriving in Paris, John, Paul, and George were met by 60 fans. Ringo, accompanied by roadie Neil Aspinall, arrived the next day.

1967, over 25,000 people attend The Human Be-In-A Gathering Of The Tribes at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The event was a forerunner of major, outdoor rock concerts and featured The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother and The Holding Company.

1970, Diana Ross made her last appearance with The Supremes at The Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas.

1978, The Sex Pistols played their last live gig at Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, (they re-formed in 96). See This Day in Music spotlight for more on this story.

1984, Paul McCartney was at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Pipes Of Peace.'” With this release McCartney made chart history by becoming the first artist to have a#1 in a group, (The Beatles), in a duo, (with Stevie Wonder), in a trio, (with Wings) and as a solo artist.

1992, Jerry Nolan drummer with The New York Dolls died from a fatal stroke. The influential American band formed in 1972 and made just two albums, the 1973 New York Dolls and 1974’s Too Much Too Soon.

1993, U.S. alternative group The Pixies announced that they had split. (They re-formed in 2004).

1996, Oasis went to #1 on the U.K. album chart with (What's The Story) Morning Glory? It was the group's second U.K. #1 and it spent a total of 145 weeks on the chart.

2005, a $100,000 statue honoring the late punk guitarist Johnny Ramone was unveiled by his widow Linda at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Johnny died from prostate cancer in September 2004 at the age of 55. Hundreds turned out for the ceremony, including Tommy Ramone – the only surviving band member. Dee Dee Ramone died of a drugs overdose in 2002 and Joey died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer.

2007, Amy Winehouse started a two-week run at #1 on the U.K. album chart with Back to Black (which went on to become the biggest-selling album of 2007 with sales over 1.5m copies).