Nicki Minaj

How does a female MC operate in the 21st century? With social networking, severely reduced sales and Hip Hop culture's midlife crisis, things are understandably a bit different. The go-go '90s might've been the last decade of routine multiplatiinum sales; no more smashes like Very Necessary, Hard Core, or The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill seem likely. Nicki Minaj, who according to Kanye West, had "the most potential to be the #2 rapper of all time," second only to Eminem. Building her reputation on the mixtape circuit starting with 2007's Playtime Is Over a de rigueur move for MCs in the new millennium, Nicki was snapped up by Lil Wayne's Dirty Money label way back in '04 after flaunting her musical goods on MySpace. "Your Love" ruled the Billboard's Rap Songs chart for several weeks, building rabid anticipation for her major-label debut album, Pink Friday. Standing on the shoulders of Lil' Kim and Lauryn Hill, Minaj had more than enough brains and body to excel at Hip Hop, 21st-century style. And she could rhyme