'I met a lot of good people in there who are still my friends to this day,' she tells 'RapFix Live,' also recalling a package from Oprah Winfrey.
By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Lil' Kim on RapFix Live
Photo: Rich Sancho/ MTV News

When Lil' Kim spent almost a year in a federal prison, she managed to create some fond memories behind bars. During MTV's "RapFix Live," the Brooklyn rapper detailed some of her experiences while serving time for a perjury conviction.

"When I first got to prison, I slept so good for the first three weeks," Kim told MTV News. "I was working that whole two months before, nonstop, trying to finish an album, doing promo, doing the TV show [BET's 'Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown'], doing shows, doing all types of things. So I never slept, never [rested] at all for two months straight. ... When I got there, I kind of just collapsed."

Kim said there were a few haters inside, but there was plenty more love for her than anything else.

"I was greeted with open arms by a lot of wonderful, wonderful girls at FDC Philadelphia," Kim said. "I met a lot of good people in there who are still my friends to this day."

The only time the rapper felt especially homesick was during Thanksgiving. She also mentioned receiving support from a number of well-known celebrities while she was away, including Oprah Winfrey.

"She sent me three of her favorite books and said, 'Read these for inspiration and motivation,' " Kim remembered, though she couldn't recall the titles. "She wrote me a letter in each book and just was like, 'Kim, you have so much potential. You're a very bright young girl.' She had so much really good things to say."

Kim put pen to paper in response to Winfrey but did not mail her letter after realizing that correspondence she was sending to fellow celebrities was being stolen. "I still have it to this day," Kim said of the letter she wrote Winfrey, adding, "If I ever meet her, I would give it to her still."

What do you think of Lil' Kim's positive attitude about her time in prison? Let us know in the comments.

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DJ White Shadow talks to MTV News about the Born This Way track, which he dubs his 'favorite song.'
By Jocelyn Vena

Lady Gaga
Photo: Marco Prosch/ Getty Images

Earlier this week, fans got a taste of the new Born This Way track "Government Hooker," which made its debut during a Mugler fashion show in Paris. The song's producer, DJ White Shadow, called "Hooker" a thumping, sexy track.

"To me, that song is my favorite song, and it's just a beast," he told MTV News. "I don't even know how to explain it. [Born This Way] is not a pop album; it's a pop masterpiece of music. If there was no category of pop music, you wouldn't call it pop music."

Shadow recalled how the song came together — and let's just say what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay there. "We were in this studio in Vegas, and I was playing some hip-hop stuff [for Gaga's label boss Vince Herbert], and I ran across this [old beat I had made], and we were talking about faster songs, so I sped it up and I played it for Vince."

It seems the new version of the beat, which Shadow had worked on with DJ Snake ages before he played it in that Vegas studio, was the magic that Herbert was looking for. "He was like, 'Whoa.' She walked in, and I played it for her and [producer] Fernando [Garibay]. She laid it out in two seconds. She sang over the melody and tuned it up and put the chorus in. She finished it super quick."

There's a Euro-sounding robot on the track, which comes courtesy of someone in Gaga's inner circle. "The guy that's actually talking, that's her security guard," White Shadow revealed. "We were sitting there thinking how to make a computerized voice, so we were like, 'Let's get Pete in here.' He's got a super-thick Dutch accent, and he's trying to read off paper. It was insane, and he just talks like that. That's what it's like working with Gaga. It's like a f---ing supernova. When she walks into a room, things explode."

The lyrics, White Shadow said, were written right there on the spot. "She thinks of sh-- that I can't comprehend," he said. "It doesn't make sense to me, and I'm a creative person."

A credit to her charm and smarts, Shadow summed Gaga up like this: "Working with her is totally different than anyone else I've ever done anything with. She's the most hands-on person I've ever run into. She could walk into Steve Jobs' office and tell him he's doing Apple wrong, and he'd listen. As a producer, it's super cool to be with somebody who generally cares and is fully involved."

What do you think of "Government Hooker"? Let us know in the comments!

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