The most buzzed about cut from Lauryn Hill's multi-platinum solo opus, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, wasn't one of it's many incredible servings of straight-from-the-diary testimonial soul, but the unflinching "Lost Ones", a fiery consummation of pointed barb and patois-inflected bite that made the entire hip hop industry stop and take notice.

With rumors swirling that former bandmate/ lover Wyclef was the cause of much of the album's lyrical heartache, many took "Lost Ones"' steely anger to be directed at him as well. Assuring from the get-go that she's no flower-child pushover ("If thing test for mi/ Run for mi gun/ Can't take a threat to mi newborn son"), Hill flings the sharpest of daggers at her target, condemning them for their sell-out ambitions ("Gained the whole world for the price of your soul/ Tryin' to grab hold of what you can't control/ Now you're all floss what a sight to behold/ Wisdom is better than silver and gold") and inability to be faithful ("A groupie call, you fall from temptation/ Now you wanna ball over separation"). With the track matching her intensity in it's toughened boom-bap assault and a forcefully sung hook that summed up her ire ("You might win some/ But you really lost one"), "Lost Ones" defiantly positioned Hill as not only the fiercest female to touch a mic, but one of the best of any gender.

So it feels a bit blasphemous for Lil' Kim to have the nerve to touch it's greatness, remodeling the classic on her upcoming mixtape Ms. G.O.A.T. (hmmm...), to explain why she's the "First Lady, there's no comparison". Kim holds her own, though, swiftly dismissing third-generation femcees who've yet to challenge her with sturdy rhymes that pay respect to L Boogie's verse, while successfully proving that she needn't rely on filthy banter to get a point across. "Let the Bee buzz if you don't wanna get stung/...Disloyal fools, I'm still the champion", she spits, re-initiating anticipation for her long-awaited '08 album, and hope that the new year will finally give us some worthy female rap material again.

DL: "Miseducation of Lil' Kim" (DJ) (YFH)

DL: "Lost Ones" (YFH)