Nicki Minaj: Hip-Hop Queen?

Young Money artist Nicki Minaj has nary an album out but is the hottest female in the rap game already?
How could this happen?
How could a lyrical novice with barely two mixtapes and a handful of features be a serious contender for hip-hop queen?
Call it good timing.
The female rap crown has been passed around like a spliff at a concert, with no artist with enough momentum and support to carry fans from one album to the next. Only in the pop and R&B markets have female artists been able to grow their fan base in a very slow and dliberate way.
Nicky's "Beam Me Up Scotty" has endeared her to fans, but it's her association with the hottest name in rap, a lil guy by the name of Dwayne that has mad her into a rap superstar.
Will she be able to turn the popularity she has into actual album sales? Time will tell, but one thing we do know, and that is that fickle fans' wallets are as light as a rock right about now.


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Nicki Minaj: Hotter Than July

It is turning into a very good month for rapper Nicki Minaj, the female emcee in Lil Wayne's Young Money outfit. She's been burning up hot spots around the South with intimate performances that speak to her lyrical prowess as well as her sex appeal. Lil Kim comparisons not withstanding, this is Nicki's time.
But with the fall approaching, the hip-hop industry is churning toward a trifecta not seen in recent years as mega-weights Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and now, Lil Wayne all plan to drop albums in September.
Handicapping each contender is their eager-to-be released mixtapes that fans will gobble up on sight, which makes Nicki Minaj's profile even brighter -- and more crucial -- as she'll no doubt trade deliveries with the Codeine-sipping miser Weezy F. Baby herself.
If Nicki can deliver the momentum -- and even more fem fans to the movement -- look for Wayne to catapult her career next to his. But this summer is just as important for Nicki: She still doesn't have a label yet; her set "Beam Me Up Scotty," while good is understandably rough around the edges.
This is her summer: If she can't muster the pressure, she'll slide behind Drake and possibly whoever else is up and coming on the Young Money label.
Can she heat it up?

Why Isn't Mya Bigger Than She is?

Few female R&B artists can boast a platinum album, yet Washington D.C. native Mya Harrison has more than one.
Believe it or not but it was 11 years ago when Mya first came on the scene. Her debut album produced a gold-certified top 10 single "It's All About Me" featuring Sisqo.
She followed that up with another platinum album in 2000, "Fear of Flying." She should have been on her way.
For as long as she's been at it, Mya should have been as big as Rihanna if not Beyonce.
Yet 2009 finds Mya, after small movie bit parts, doing endorsement deals for the likes of Motorola and Coca-Cola.
What happened?
For starters, Mya seems to like to associate with buggers.
Did she date Ray J? Then, did she actually hook up with Maino? And the creme de la creme, is she currently dating Gucci Mane?
Not exactly career gold.
The bigger problem seems to be her management: Mya left A$M records in 2005 on the cusp of a new album. Her new label choice? Motown.
After she failed to get any radio traction from a few singles, her album was shelved in the U.S., enjoying release only in Japan.
While Beyonce is scorching international and U.S. cities on a world tour and while the world is ready to buy the next spit that comes out of Rihanna's mouth, today Mya is working with a Japanese label, still trying to figure out U.S. radio play and digital sales.

The Best to Have Done it. Ever

Who's the fairest of them all? Baddest, thickest, wickedest drawl? We give you the skinny on who wetted it the best. But first we have to get this out of the way: No, MC Lyte is not the best that ever did it. Sorry.


"Now you see that I am 68 inches above sea level; 93 million miles above these devils play me in the winter, play in the summer, play me in any order ..." and with that, the anthemic "9th Wonder" (on the "Blowout Comb" LP) was certified immortal. And she's still cool like that. She being Mary Ann Vieira aka LadyBug Mecca,formerly of the hip-hop/jazz trio Digable Planets. LadyBug has come a long way since her days in DP and opening for Sade but the woman is still deadly with a mic. To combine the beauty, sophistication, refreshing voice, conscious lyrics that she does gets her on this list, regardless of what she's doing right now.



Say what you can about the violent message, the gritty profanity, Lady of Rage was the roughest of battle-ryhmers for the now defunct Death Row Records. Although her star shone for only a second, producing one softly received album, she'll be forever known as the only female emcee featured on arguably the dopest hip-hop album of all time, Dr. Dre's "The Chronic." (see, "Lyrical Gangbang")



Eve, the self-proclaimed "Bulldog in a skirt" (Not to be confused with Sarah Palin's Bulldog in lipstick) was - in her initial manifestation - the Kobe Bryant of female emcees: Young, tenacious and rolling with a helluva team, the Rough Riders. Her bravado was one of symbols: the curled lip, bleached hair, and tatted tatas were unmistakable across the world. She had a posse that would make a New York hip-hop head cream: DMX, Drag-on, and the musical maestro, Swizz Beatz. Her lyrical content was elementary but her persona was bigger than the stage. Need proof? Name another female rapper with her own primetime sitcom? She's in on GP.




When it comes to monotone flow with rhymes schemes that border on spectacular, Bahamadia has to be mentioned. The masculine posturing, high cheekbones and gap teeth make Antonia Reed (her birthname) a hip-hop icon of the gritty persuasion, but girl can rap: Conscious as they come, quick and rapid-fire with the lyrics, Bahamadia has to be in every top 5.



We'd be remiss if we didn't mention Jean Grae, the sickest vocabulary we've ever heard. She's the unsigned hype that's signed but still unhyped.


Music and dancing go together like Obama and Biden, Cheech and Chong. Missy Elliott is synonomous with party music: Her specialty is the uptempo joint. Since parting ways with her musical backbone, superproducer Timbaland, she's lost a step, but Missy back a few years ago was the fiercest party rocka out there. Still she is to videos what Michael Jackson was to videos in the 1980s, only with top-notch hip-hop choreography. Her rap skills are not as tight as they used to be, but she has expanded her focus to visual as well as audio strategies, and it's shown.




"I go below solo like, lady-like on the mic, psyke is where I when my battles you? I'll handle you like a baby with a rattle..." And just like that Salt and Pepa's "Take Yo Man" stormed the NYC airways in the early 1980s. The girls were well put together and featured exceptional flow that still ranks high-calibur more than 20 years later. Salt and Pepa are, without peers in the industry, as far as duos. They are the RUN-DMC of female rap duos and on untouchable status.




There are a few notable others, known largely not for their lyrics as much as for their propensity to take off their clothes. The high notes remain though, Foxy "Inga Marchland" Brown propelled Jay-Z's first hit record with the classic "Aint No Ni&&". Rah Digga's finest moment may have been guest-starring on the "Whoa" remix with Black Rob and a baseball team of other rappers. Lil Kim is more known for the company she kept (Biggie, Sean Combs, rival to Faith Evans) or going to jail than she is for any music she's put out; And Trina? Get serious.


There are a whole stable of female emcees that never even got the light of day. The honorable mentions will be short but recognizable all the same: Da Brat, one of the few female rappers to have a hit record; Shawnna from Ludacris' DTP; Jackie O (Okay, I don't know why I included her.).


The GOAT: Surely you've heard the ever-debatable theory of the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object? Queen Latifah has the qualities of both: Rapper/actress/singer/jazz artist extraordinaire. Dana Owens has been working it for more than 15 years, and we feel like she's only midstream. She's the biggest female rapper alive. Period. Like Will Smith, never has a rapper translated energies like Queen Latifah has.