Foxy Brown’s ‘Ill Na Na’ Album Turns 19 Years Old Today

Foxy Brown hasn’t been so much on the scene in recent years, but her legacy as a female rap legend lives on through her work. Today, her debut album, Ill Na Na, turns 19 years old, celebrating the moment when the New York MC proved that she could be just as dope as the men in the hip hop game.

With signature tracks like “I’ll Be,” which feature an early Jay Z on the hook, as well as the title track, “Ill Na Na,” featuring Method Man, it was definitely a project hip hop was happy to receive. Although Lil Kim was certainly a female MC to be reckoned with, Foxy very much held her own, and proved that she could carry lyricism outside of The Firm with this project, as she spoke on the mafia, fashion, and some raunchier topics.

Keep reading on the 19th anniversary of Ill Na Na on the following page.

The album came with a behind-the-scenes battle, as the singles off of the project before its release were majorly successful, leading to record labels fighting it out over bids. Def Jam landed Foxy as an artist by signing her in March of 1996, who was just 17 years old at the time. They then released the debut album that same November, which only came one week after Lil Kim’s debut, Hard Core.

The project landed at number seven on the Billboard 200 with 109,000 copies sold in its first week, and has since sold over a million copies, making it a certified platinum album. The singles off the project saw tremendous success, including “Get Me Home,” “I’ll Be,” and “Big Bad Mamma,” which was also on the How To Be A Player soundtrack.

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