While hip hop is still very much a male dominated industry, you can't deny that the male rappers' female counterparts are breaking new ground in the genre. Nicki Minaj credits herself with pushing women to the forefront in the rap game, despite the fact that it's Cardi B who has been reigning on the charts most recently.

Nicki Minaj at the 2017 MTV VMAsNicki Minaj at the 2017 MTV VMAs

It's true that before Nicki Minaj came along with her number one debut album 'Pink Friday' in 2010, a female rapper hadn't gone platinum since 2003. It seemed like the age of women in rap was stuck firmly in the 90s and early 2000s with the likes of Lauryn Hill, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott, but she changed all of that.

'My role in hip-hop has been super unique because when my first album came out, there had been so much time where there wasn't a female rap album out that went platinum', she said in an interview with XXL. 'There wasn't a big female rap presence right before I got in. So, my role was really reintroducing the female rapper to pop culture.'

Since 2010, a number of female rappers have broken into the mainstream including Young M.A, Azealia Banks, Iggy Azalea, Angel Haze and now Cardi B. And it was Nicki's intention to keep women up there by partnering with various brands to make sure that her gender kept their place in hip hop.

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'I aligned myself with a lot of brands, and I was able to show that a female rapper was able to sell products', she continued. 'I don't think [female rappers] got that much credit. I think female rappers have always been dope and influential, but I think I sort of came in at a time where big business was paying attention, so I was able to capitalize off of a lot of deals and business ventures.'