Coming Soon: Nicki Minaj

Welcome to a new feature to !point. called 'Coming Soon' where we take a look at who or what is bubbling under the mainstream surface across pop culture.  This edition looks at rising female rap superstar Nicki Minaj.

It's ironic that we feature Nicki Minaj in our 'Coming Soon' post today as it seems this week she has finally broken in to the mainstream in the US, scoring the first solo number one single on the rap charts by a female MC in nearly 9 years (the last woman to achieve the chart's summit was Missy Elliot with 'Work It').  The song in question  'Your Love' is also Minaj's first solo single and is really only distinctive for it's sample of Annie Lennox's 'No More I Love You's' - Nicki's own personal rap style is distinctive for her Trinidadian, almost British sounding, fast-paced delivery.
This is not Nicki's first taste of chart success since she emerged on to the US hip-hop scene around 18 months ago - she has been a featured artist on Ludacris' hit "My Chick Bad" and Usher's next UK single "Lil Freak".  Minaj has also found herself featured on infectious tracks by superstars Mariah Carey (on 'Up Out My Face') and Christina Aguilera (on 'WooHoo') as well as remixes for tracks by Beyonce, P Diddy and Lil Wayne.  With such heavy weight endorsement behind her, the native New Yorker is prepared to blow up in a big way across the international hip-hop scene; people have not made this much fuss over a female rapper since Lil' Kim.
Look out for Nicki Minaj's debut album when it's released at the end of the year and in the meantime enjoy the fun video for the aforementioned Mariah Carey track 'Up Out My Face' featuring Minaj....