Best Female Rapper: Nicki or Lauryn?

So our reigning rap queen, Nicki Minaj, has recently dropped another hot album for us. Her majesty’s single, Want Some More, off her latest Pink Print album is ripping the airwaves with its raw sound of hunger; Nicki clearly showing she knows her position in the game and still her thirst for it isn’t quenched quite yet.  A little more than a month after Nicki’s new release, the YMCMB artist was featured in the MTV documentary ‘Nicki Minaj: It’s My Time Again’. In which, Nicki shares with viewers and her “barbs” a peek at some of her most recent journey in her three year rap career. From behind the scenes clips of her VMA Awards performance to her favorite nail salon in her New York hometown of Jamaica Queens to the childhood home where Nicki tells of love and misfortunes, the documentary, much like her latest album, shows a real and more intimate side of Nicki Minaj. 

Although we are seeing the evolution of who many would say is one of the greatest rappers, female or male, of this generation, is Nicki really the greatest female rapper of all time? And if so, what is this based on? After listening to a few of the songs off of Pink Print and watching the MTV documentary, I can admit that the girl has grown and she is definitely good at her craft. I, for one, enjoy seeing her in the more natural-tone hair and make up in comparison to some of the much more colorful and wild looks we know Nicki can pull off like no other; the natural looks just make her even more tangible and relatable. And even though she is giving us a little more mature, sophisticated, and emotional record, I am still awaiting and craving the conscious, deep level of lyricism that Lauryn Hill blessed the music game with. 

Perhaps one of the more deep and revealing songs from Nicki’s new album, All Things Go, is only her thirteenth most popular song. Some of the insightful lyrics read: 

“Even the ones that hurt me the most, I still show forgiveness

I'm love my mother more than life itself, and that's a fact

I'd give it all, if somehow I could just rekindle that

She never understands, why I'm so overprotective

The more I work, the more I feel like, somehow they're neglected”. 

Even though it’s been over fifteen years since the release of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,  those that were around to remember that fresh melodic grit of hip-hop soul still miss and crave that depth of lyricism. Although Nicki Minaj does have a way with her words, they still don’t quite hit as hard as those of Lauryn. Lauryn had a way of putting words and ideas together that could make a person sit and think for long periods of time and cause hours of conversation. Lauryn Hill twisted words and phrases in a manner reminiscent of the late great Biggie Smalls; recall the first verse to Final Hour:

“I treat this like my thesis
Well-written topic, broken down into pieces
I introduce then produce, words so profuse
It's abuse how I juice up this beat, like I'm deuce
Two people both equal like I'm Gemini, rather Simeon

If I Jimmy on this lock I could pop it, you can't stop it

Drop it, your whole crew's microscopic
Like particles while I make international articles, and on the cover

 I been in this third LP you can't tell me, I witness
First handed I'm candid Don't discuss the baby mother
Business,

You can't stand it, respect demanded

And get flown around the planet

Rock Hard like granite or steel

People feel Lauryn Hill from New-Ark to Israel

And this is real, so I keep makin' the street's ballads

While you lookin' for dressin' to go with your tossed salad”.

I contest that, although Nicki Minaj has the potential, the rap game is still missing that element of consciousness that Lauryn Hill left void many years ago. Her reigning royal highness is still growing in the game so it is possible that Nicki can fill that gap with time and experience, but for now I say the honorary Marley, Lauryn Hill’s imprint is still a factor impressed on the game.