Nicki Minaj is the Only Female on Complex Magazine’s Best Rappers Alive List

Nicki Minaj is the Only Female on Complex Magazine’s Best Rappers Alive List

Recently, Complex compiled the “Best Rapper Alive, Every Year Since 1979” list and Nicki Minaj turned out to be the only female on the list. First, she got a honourable mention for her 2010 Monster verse, and then she was named as the artist who dominated in 2014, for her iconic album, The Pinkprint.

Here’s what Complex said of her performance that year:

“The Nicki Minaj who showed up to 2014 was battle-ready. Early on she took Young Thug’s“Danny Glover,” added bars as insulting as they were clever—“Hell of a livin’, you B!tches on chitlins/When I come out of my mansion I sprinkle some bread to the pigeons”—and gave a second wind to a song from 2013. The vitriolic “Lookin’ Ass” was like duct tape over the mouths of anyone still crying for “mixtape Nicki,” and she hit with a closed fist on “Chiraq,” her flow low and measured. Even her sweetness was merely a means to hide something cantankerous as she nearly baby-talked the line “Wonder when they bite me/Do these B!tches’ teeth hurt?” on the remix to Rae Sremmurd’s “No Flex Zone.” And of course, lest her lines were not enough to convince you that her value as a rapper had gone up, she had numbers for you, as she upped her “50K for a verse” on “Monster” to “$250,000 for a verse” on the remix to YG’s “My N***a.”

Minaj had already released an album’s worth of material by the time The Pinkprint came out in December, yet she still had more to say. On her third album, she balanced her talent boasts and $ex metaphors with details of her broken relationship and family concerns. Yes, the majority of the hooks on these songs were sung, as most hooks are, and she was joined by pop artists like Beyoncé and Ariana Grande, but Minaj used her verses to flaunt her versatility as a rapper. And instead of accomplishing that with fake voices and other gimmicks, she did it with varied flows, ranging from sing-song to pummeling, and lines as personal as they were provocative. She could go as pop as she wants, but for Minaj, it all returns to rap. Who knows what’s next, but let 2014 be remembered as the year Roman retired, the wigs stayed in the box, and everyone learned that “mixtape Nicki” wasn’t back—she had never left.”

The credential is impressive because it has sealed the lips of all those who had been working too hard to discredit the rapper’s achievements.

Nicki Minaj took a leave from social media since December and her fans, who no longer can endure her absence, launched a new website called ‘Finding Nicki’. Many people hope she will be back soon with a new album, and she is included in major lists, from Forbes to Complex, as one of those cooking up the most anticipated albums.