Nicki Minaj aka Roman Zolanski aka Best Rapper Alive

Ok, so maybe my title is going a step too far, but for real, name a rapper out there right now who has eaten up (and i mean fuckin devoured) more tracks in the past year. She's shared the mic with Eminem, Jay-Z, Drake, Weezy, Kanye, Rick Ross, etc etc, and she has showed up almost every single one of them (I declare a tie with Eminem). If you told me a year ago that a female MC would dominate the game and make my pants tingle by just listening to her rhymes, I'd probably just have chorkled and proceded to take another bite of my steak.

But Nicki or Roman or Onicka brings an energy and complexity to her characters and verses that goes way beyond a hot flow or ill rhyme. There's the kind of in-verse conversation between her different characters which can only really be pulled off by the best (biggie, jay-z, em). When you first hear it, it sounds like she's just crazy (alla "Monster") but thats kinda the point. She's letting us see these personas, different sides of herself, and she's in charge. It's the female answer to Slim Shady, and as we see on "Roman's Revenge" Nicki's alter ego can definitely hold her own.

As Nicki continues to develop her skills, I hope these characters will continue to progress as well. Some next level shit -- real distinctive flow, voices, narratives. Maybe I'm taking it too far, but she did study drama at LaGuardia HS.  Which makes me think of "Taina" meeting "True Life: How to Become the Baddest Rapper Alive" (Taina anyone, anyone, please?)

Anywayyy, "Pink Friday" drops on Monday, but I couldn't hold my load. 

These are her latests and greatests with some not so shabby co-track murderers. Fire.
Cop the album. Pre-order here

Nicki Minaj - Blazin' (featuring Kanye West)
Nicki Minaj - Roman's Revenge (featuring Eminem)
Kanye West - Monster (ft. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Nicki)