Nicki Minaj

The most successful female rapper in history, Nicki Minaj changed the game when she blew up in 2010. After the hits dried up for Missy Elliott, Eve and Lil' Kim in the early '00s, it was rare to hear a woman rhyming on the radio, but in 2010 alone, Minaj was on the charts with 19 different songs, including collaborations with heavy hitters like Mariah Carey ("Up Out My Face (Remix)"), Eminem ("Roman's Revenge") and Rihanna ("Fly"). She set a record that October by having seven songs on the Hot 100 at the same time, and her debut album, Pink Friday, wasn't even released yet.

She cites Lauryn Hill, Bob Marley, Foxy Brown, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Leona Lewis and Natasha Bedingfield as her musical influences. She's also a big fan of Enya, the Irish singer who makes soothing, atmospheric music. Nicki says it helps her relax and boosts her creativity.

Her style is characterized by the presence of different personalities. The reason behind this has to do with her troublesome family. Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj, formed alter egos growing up to cope with her childhood, as she recalls with New York Magazine, "To get away from all their fighting, I would imagine being a new person.?'Cookie' was my first identity - that stayed with me for a while. I went on to Harajuku Barbie, then Nicki Minaj. Fantasy was my reality."