Columns

When I am feeling marginally less splendid than usual (news of a land law lecture running over the Lawsoc barbeque - I'm looking at you), there are a few things that I like to do. First of all I put on the suede platforms that I can't walk in properly and bought on overdraft, take out my hair, close the curtains just in case the creepy old man next door is making use of his binoculars, and turn up some Nicki Minaj. I'm not even writing this for dramatic effect – this is truth.

As we all know, the world of hip-hop is a downright nasty place. As an artist – a rapper to be precise – you are going to have a lot to deal with as you rise through the ranks. Along with all the shootings, the in-verse "disses", the competition for best range of streetwear, and grammatically ridiculous Twitter arguments about who got the best baby mama, you have to have a crew, money to back you, and a great amount of self-confidence (well, arrogance). Katy B and Ms Dynamite, who I spoke highly of last week, have an easy job in comparison to the one that faces Nicki, the undisputable queen of hip-hop right now, although she prefers to call herself "the King".

Onika Tanya Maraj, now 28, was born in Trinidad & Tobago (in the Southern Caribbean, just above Venezuela, for those of you who are as geographically ignorant as I) and moved with her family at the age of five to New York City, the city in which her alter egos would be created. It's no secret that Nicki's homelife was turbulent and violent due to her father's substance abuse, and as a means of escape she would step into her fantasy world and become one of these created characters – Cookie, Harajuku Barbie, and of course Nicki Minaj.

Since her breakthrough as an artist on the international stage, she has added Roman and the British accent-ed Martha to her entourage. One of the reasons that Nicki has been so successful is the fact that not only can African American listeners relate to her, white girls love her as well, even if they have never listened to hip hop before. Giving herself the versatility to work under several different personas means that she appeals to different demographics as one artist, without having to create different projects, which can be time-consuming and confuse creative direction.

Not only has Minaj hit the image game square in the jaw, she is in fact a very talented rapper and lyricist. After being discovered and snatched up by Lil' Wayne's Young Money label, she released mixtapes and several singles through '07 and '08, which earned her Female Artist of the Year at the Underground Music Awards, and went on to be covered by MTV, working with reputable artists like Jay-Z and Wyclef Jean. After releasing her debut album last year, she became the first female artist to have a number one single at the top of the Billboard Charts since 2002, and clearly steals the spotlight in every collaboration she is part of – even having made mincemeat of Jay-Z and Kanye in Monster, with a thrilling verse which seamless utilises different accents, intonation, and a final scream.

Nicki deserves a lot of credit because she is loved by the underground and mainstream alike. With her natural creative processes that would take many other artists an age to gain through a gaggle of publicists, song writers and creative directors, I am thoroughly intrigued to see where this hip-hop powerhouse will find herself through the next ten years, and how many others she will inspire along the way.