Who is “The Queen of Rap?”
Nicki Minaj in Sydney, Australia at her “Pink Friday Perfume” launch in 2012. Her album Pink Friday was released during the height of her popularity. Photo via Wikicommons.
Nicki Minaj has been considered a top female rapper for the past ten years and she knows it. Her most recent album is called Queen and in 2016, while featuring on Ariana Grande’s song “Side to Side,” she directly states, “I’m the queen of rap.” But ever since “Bodak Yellow” was released, Nicki Minaj has had a prominent competitor in Cardi B. But why can’t both women be on top?
Men dominate the rap world. Out of the top 25 rappers of the 2010s compiled from a Billboard Magazine decade summary, only 2 are women. Minaj herself tweeted in 2017 that “In any field, women must work TWICE as hard to even get HALF the respect her male counterparts get,” and rap is no different. While Minaj has held the “Queen of Rap” title for at least ten years, the King of Rap has jumped from Jay Z to Kendrick Lamar to Drake and back. Nevertheless, all of these men have had successful careers, existing and collaborating among one another. But Nicki Minaj has had to take a different path. To remain relevant, Minaj has had to fight to keep the title of Queen, usually only collaborating with men or pop divas.
Minaj doesn’t often give a platform to other female rappers, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there fighting for her title. You’ve probably heard of Meghan Thee Stallion, Lil Kim and Iggy Azalea, but Cardi B is her most notable competitor. Even though the two women have completely different personas and styles of music, they have been pitted against one another ever since Cardi B first rose to fame in 2017.
While this competition may have been initially made up by the media, the two women came to blows at the 2018 New York Fashion Week, leaving Cardi B shoeless and with a welt on her head. Despite the fact that Minaj seemed to be the winner in that brawl, Cardi B is the artist that currently has a track at number two on Billboard’s Top 100. And she did this by pairing with another female rapper—Meghan Thee Stallion.
So does Nicki Minaj still hold the top spot of “Queen of Rap,” or is Cardi B swooping in to steal the throne? No matter who’s on top, what matters most is that women are finally getting the spot they deserve in rap.
Isabel Oliver is a senior at Boulder High this year. Although new to The Owl, she has always loved writing and literary arts. Isabel grew up with an Editor in Chief for a mother and has always been fascinated by the inner workings of journalism. Isabel joined The Owl to improve her journalistic writing and to report on current events that she’s passionate about. Outside of The Owl, you can find Isabel acting with Troupe 60, singing in the choir, reading a good book, watching copious amounts of Netflix, or jamming with her band. After graduating from Boulder, she hopes to go to college and become either a therapist or a social worker - although she’s leaning towards liberal arts, so that’s...
Nina • Nov 7, 2021 at 4:59 pm
Nicki definitely paved the way. The bad thing is that people paint them as enemies, cuz women can’t succeed without competition among themselves. People rank visuals, abilities, lyrics, stage presence, etc. Everything that helps keeping this structure of female competition. They’re both good in their way, all the female rappers we know deserve respect for their hard work. But, in the end, I agree that Nicki has come a long was a rapper and if this “queen” title has to exist, it should be hers.
Samuel • Jun 17, 2021 at 7:46 am
It does not matter how many hit songs you have in the game of rap it is who is better lyrically and who has the most complex rap scheme cadi b copy flows she has no lyrically talent and raps about the same stuff every time her lyrics are generic she basically Lil Kim 2 .0 while Nicki Minaj fought her way to the top and is a lyrical beast she slew Kayne west and jay z on their own track with her verse on monster she always approaches things from a different angle she has the most potential probably In the game of hip hop and rap hit songs does not matter its your talent
I am a guy btw
NICKI MINAJ IS THE QUEEN OF RAP • Oct 26, 2021 at 6:13 pm
you are so right cardi b has people write her raps then she post them on yt nicki minaj has came from 15 to 38 from rapper to queen of hip hop and if anyone talks about her they are jealous bc she is still the highest selling female artist she may have not won a grammy but she is still the queen of rap search who is the queen of rap it will show nicki minaj bc she is the queen of rap period.
jay jay • Jun 12, 2021 at 12:18 pm
Nicki is queen
Cameron Goings • Apr 29, 2021 at 8:24 pm
Nicki is the everlasting Queen Of Rap And Hip-Hop. She will reign forever. Cardi and the other girls will never dethrone Nicki.
ur mom • Mar 4, 2021 at 6:35 am
Nicki will probably stay queen unless Cardi can make a song that puts her over the top lol
Diego Wiese • Feb 13, 2021 at 9:04 am
Cardi B is dethroning Nicki tbh :/
V • Dec 2, 2021 at 12:07 pm
tbh???
Jack • Dec 19, 2021 at 1:25 pm
Not to be rude but that is not true. Someone who has been in the music industry for like 5 years can dethrone someone who has been in the music industry for over 10 years.
Saul Layman • Dec 14, 2020 at 11:10 pm
What I find very interesting in the difference in rap between female and male rappers is the way that lyricism is appreciated. Rappers like J. Cole, Anderson .Paak, Bas, and JID just to name a few have accumulated large followings and many hit songs largely due to their ability to impressively write and deliver lyrics. On the other hand, female lyrical rappers like Noname have smaller followings although their lyrical abilities are often on par with male rappers. Although Carti B, Nikki Minaj and the like can hardly be considered lyrical rappers, rather more melodic, they often sport similar monthly listeners and top positions on global and domestic charts compared to male melodic rappers like iann dior. It seems to me the disparity of success between women and men in rap is often more disproportionate in the lyrical rap than in melodic, which I find interesting. I enjoyed reading this article and I think you make an interesting point.
Ben • Dec 14, 2020 at 11:10 pm
It was really cool learning about a strong female character in the world of rap. Luckily now there are more and more female figures in this field but I have never really learned much about them. Being someone who mostly listens to jazz and classical music I don’t know much about the rap world but what I do know of it is mostly the males of the scene. It was really informative to learn about a different side of this group and to see how influential that she is in general. This was a great and informative article that I highly enjoyed reading.
Quinn Besser • Dec 14, 2020 at 1:41 pm
This is a really interesting perspective that I’ve never considered before. I never thought how competitive and beneficial it is to have the top spot as a female in this genre dominated by men. As far as it goes for Minaj and Cardi B collaborating I think they are the only ones to blame, they have found it more beneficial for their careers to have drama then to flourish off the success of each other. I also think the majority of people that do listen to this kind of music is made up mostly by men, given that it’s hard to listen to them rap about things that we have no way to relate to. Songs such as “WAP” and pretty much the majority of Megan Thee Stallion’s music is made up of lyrics composed about the female sexual organ and how they want to be pleased. Personally I don’t really care much for any of these artist and the music they are composing.
Kenya • Dec 12, 2020 at 2:37 pm
Nicki is the queen of rap still