As the hip hop community pays tribute to Biggie on the 15 year anniversary of his death, some of us can’t help but wonder how the rapper’s closest friends and family are remembering their loved one. TMZ, in particular, reached out to Big’s female protege, Lil Kim, about how she’s feeling today. See what she had to say after the jump…

Wendy L.

“It still hurts very much,” she explained.

Kim — who was famously close with Biggie — tells us she’ll be honoring his memory at a private dinner in NY with close friends and family members … saying, “I will never forget him and I will think about him every day until I die.”

She adds, “I will celebrate him every single day of my life … I have endless love for him and I’ll be grateful and thankful to him until my last day.”

“I love him … and will never stop loving him.”

TMZ