Live: Lil Kim good, not quite great at Key Club

The hip-hop diva's ambitious if erratic show was almost too much for the compact confines of Key Club.

'I love all my female rappers, and I'll represent for them forever,' proclaimed Lil Kim midway through her set at a jam-packed Key Club on Wednesday night. The diminutive hip-hop diva had just performed 'Ladies Night (Not Tonight Remix),' complete with a surprise appearance by '90s rapper Da Brat. Later, she brought former Death Row artist Lady of Rage on stage.

Her message of solidarity and guests of choice made a pointed statement in light of Kim's ongoing beef with Nicki Minaj (more on that later), but Kim has always repped for women. Though the start of her career in the early 1990s saw her playing the moll in the otherwise male Brooklyn rap outfit Junior M.A.F.I.A, and the professional and romantic cohort to the late Notorious B.I.G, she's also collaborated with the likes of Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, the late Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes and, of course, the women with whom she remade Labelle's 'Lady Marmalade' ' Christina Aguilera, Pink and Mya.

Minaj was never mentioned by name (a real queen doesn't even deign to give a rival that basic acknowledgment), and it wasn't necessary to do so. The amped crowd sang word for word near the show's end when Kim finally performed a scalding version of 'Black Friday,' her Nicki diss.

But Kim's defense of her queendom wasn't limited to throwing darts at Minaj. In fact, she most effectively made her point the old-fashioned way: She put on a good ' not quite great ' show that proved she has no intention of quietly abdicating her throne.

Rolling out hit after hit, including those in which she dropped track-stealing cameos ' 'How Many Licks,' 'Whoa,' 'Big Momma Thang,' 'Magic Stick,' 'All About the Benjamins,' 'Money, Power, Respect,' 'Lighters Up,' 'Crush on You,' and more ' Kim put on a concert that was too big in both concept and ambition for the small Key Club stage. Though there was a massive drum kit and a keyboard onstage, most of the backing music was clearly prerecorded. The Janet Jackson-style choreography was executed by a small army of dancers who were clearly cramped by the confined space.