Before I begin, I would like to note that I am not a "Barb" – that’s not to be taken as a negative statement, but rather to let you, the reader, know that my opinions aren’t biased

With that out of the way, I am someone who extremely respects the accelerated rise of a superstar - and not just someone who tops the Billboard Hot 100 with one or two songs to later fade into non-relevance

Don’t get me wrong, I'm all about artists having their "moment" - but creating that moment, while still a pretty monumental task, is the easy part. What's hard is sustaining that rapid ascendance to the top

To become a mainstay in the music industry, it takes multiple hit songs, impressive live performances, educated sit-down interviews, and an extremely hard work ethic to create a superstar. It also requires you to earn the respect of your fellow peers – because, let’s face it, how can someone be labeled a “superstar” without having earned the respect from fans, the media, and even other artists?

And while it’s not often that a new superstar emerges, if I had one word to describe Nicki Minaj and her meteoric rise to fame, it would be just that – superstar

We all know the backstory – Nicki was born in Trinidad, moved to New York City as a child with her family, had a rough childhood as her father, attended LaGuardia High School (not because of her rapping, but acting), and was eventually signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money label

During the lengthy bidding war for Nicki Minaj, which involved various record labels, Lil Wayne had hopes that she would eventually sign with him and become the “First Lady of Young Money”. After some persuasion, as well as a $5 million dollar signing-bonus, his dream became a reality

That following year, as we all know with the release of her debut album, “Pink Friday”, a superstar began to emerge…

What’s so ironic about the accelerated rise to fame for Nicki Minaj is that the adversity she had to deal with as a child isn’t even the biggest obstacle that she had to overcome to be a star

The real hurdle in her way, and one that has caused problems for many female rappers of this past decade, was making a name for herself in the male-driven and male-dominated world that is rap

With a large amount of guest appearances to her name – including being featured on songs by hip hop heavyweights Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé and on songs by pop icons Mariah Carey, Madonna, and Britney Spears – Nicki made a name for herself by outshining her more-established peers on their own songs

As the most successful commercial female rapper of all-time, Nicki also proved that she could compete for airplay on Top 40 radio with smash hits like “Superbass”, “Starships”, and “Moment For Life”. No longer was she confined to creating singles for urban radio, but she was now a bonafide-hit across all genres

Now, with a staggering net worth of over $50 million, Nicki has proven that she can hang with any male rapper in the game bar-to-bar, create radio-friendly and chart-topping hits that rival those of pop’s biggest acts, and attract the attention of huge brand names like Coke, Pepsi, MAC, and Adidas for multi-million dollar endorsement deals
If that’s not the power of a superstar, then I don’t know what is