Nicki Minaj knows how female rappers electrify fans; after all she used to be a fan herself.  “I know I was always excited by whatever female was hot at the time,” Nicki says.

Today, millions of music fans are now saying the same thing about Nicki Minaj, part comic, part sex symbol and all-the-way lyrical assassin. She has everyone talking about her fiery verse on Kanye West’s “Monster,” which also features Jay-Z, as well as her infectious, standout appearances alongside Lil Wayne (“Knockout”), Usher (“Lil Freak”), Trey Songz (“Bottoms Up”), Robin Thicke (“Shakin’ It 4 Daddy,”), Sean Kingston (“Letting Go”), Christina Aguilera (“WooHoo”), and as a member of Young Money. All this has catapulted Minaj to the forefront of the music industry.

Her appeal is undeniably intoxicating, which is why her first single “Your Love,” from her debut album “Pink Friday,” hit number one on the Billboard rap charts, a feat last achieved by a female hip-hop artist in 2003. “Pink Friday” features production from the heavy-hitters Will.i.am and Swizz Beatz, among others.

Born in Trinidad and raised in Queens, New York, Nicki had to deal with life-threatening attacks during her childhood. Her father was in the borough’s drug scene. He would have violent outbursts and punch holes in walls. Her mother would leave him, only to return after relocating the family multiple times and putting Nicki in an almost untenable position. “It was just really, really volatile and it made me kind of have a lot of anger issues because I wanted to be able to stop it, to be able to protect my family, but unfortunately I was just a child and I couldn’t do anything,” she says. “That always bothered me.”

Nicki was able to draw strength from her chaotic home life. “It gave me this undying drive,” she explains. “Out of everyone that wanted success, I always felt like I wanted it more because my reason for wanting this was never about money or fame. Since I was five years old, I would pray and ask God to make me a successful entertainer, so I could help my mother. It made me just go above and beyond.”

Instead, Nicki found herself in a string of dead-end jobs. After becoming disenchanted with her employment opportunities, she decided to pursue her dreams. She began writing raps and was dared by her then-manager to write three freestyles over other people’s beats. He was floored. “From then on, I just always remember having a goal to accomplish, whether it was shooting my first DVD video, putting out my next mix-tape or getting an original song done,” Nicki recalls. (Her singles “Itty Bitty Piggy” and “Still I Rise” showcased, respectively, her braggadocio and introspective sides, endearing her to millions of fans around the world.)

Soon after Nicki made a DVD of her songs, Lil Wayne flew her to North Carolina for a meeting. “I just remember it being the best moment of my life because I never really even knew if I would get mainstream, or if I would ever be recognized by a mainstream person and I’d always been a Lil Wayne fan, so it was like a double whammy,” she says.

Lil Wayne was impressed. Though no paperwork was signed at this point, Wayne named-dropped Nicki on his freestyle over Beyonce’s “Upgrade” and appeared for the first time with Nicki on “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop,” the standout selection from her “Playtime Is Over” mix-tape. “Once I heard Nicki, I knew I had to meet her and once we talked I knew she had to be a part of Young Money, with her skills and her personality,” says Lil Wayne.

As Nicki’s notoriety began to rise, her vivid personalities began to catch on. Nicki Lewinsky, Nicki the Ninja, Nicki the Harajuku Barbie, and Nicki the Boss each hold their own place in Nicki Minaj’s creative, ever-expanding mind. She refuses to be pigeon-holed because she uses people’s preconceived notions about female entertainers to her advantage.

Another testament to her astounding cache: Nicki hosted BET’s Rip the Runway 2010 and pulled in the highest ratings ever for the show, setting the stage for a performance on the 2010 BET Awards, where she took home trophies for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, and for Best Group as a key member of the super-group Young Money. At the 2010 MTV Video Music Award, she stole the spotlight with a show-stealing performance of her duet “Check It Out” with will.i.am.

Image Courtesy of  Nicki Minaj

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WQHT (97.1 FM, “Hot 97″) is an American radio station in New York City that primarily plays mainstream urban hits, with a few pop-leaning titles on occasion. It is a famous radio station in the hip-hop community across the country, and it is also known for the drama and controversies that occur surrounding its staff and guests. And this past weekend wasn’t any different.

On Sunday evening at hip-hop’s biggest concert the Hot 97 Summer Jam Concert, just hours before she was slated to perform, Nicki Minaj pulled from performing along with Lil Wayne – the president of her label Cash Money Records. The reason? Lil Wayne was angered by disparaging comments made by Hot 97 morning host Peter Rosenberg about Minaj’s song ‘Starships’ in which he suggested that the song was not “real hip-hop.”

“I know there’s some chicks here waiting to sing ‘Starships’ later. I’m not talking to y’all right now,” he said. “F— that bullsh-t. I’m here to talk about real hip-hop sh-t.”

After hearing that, Lil Wayne then canceled Minaj’s performance in a tweet: ”Young Money ain’t doing summer jam,” he tweeted, referring to his rap crew, which includes Minaj who also tweeted: ”I go above and beyond for my fans. But won’t ever go against wayne’s word. What he says, goes,” she tweeted.

In another tweet, Minaj hanked other cities for hosting her: ”I’d like to thank the staff @ philly & boston summer jams for treating their guests w/respect! Had a blast,” she tweeted.

Rosenberg, the self-described “Jewish Johnny Carson,” tweeted: “Tonight just got interesting.”

Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex then backed Rosenberg during the concert, taunting Minaj for recent weaker sales. ”You don’t go gold. It’s all your fault,” he said. “I’m dedicated to tearing you down.”

On Monday night, Minaj called in to the station to explain her decison to pull out of the concert which turned into an hour long heated debate with DJ Funkmaster Flex. Minaj apologized to her fans and promised them a free concert in the New York area this summer. She then made it clear that she had been deeply offended by Rosenberg’s comments.

“When you want our team to come to your show, treat us with respect,” she said. “And that’s all we’re asking.” Later she added: “When you disrespect Nicki Minaj, you’re disrespecting my fans. I don’t have a problem with anyone saying what they have to say to me. But don’t make fans feel inferior in any way for their personal taste in music.”

Minaj also felt that he had singled her out because she’s a woman.

“If that’s not some bitch-ass s**t – for this person to single out the only female on the bill, I’m holding it down for women,” Minaj said. “I respect men who are real men, but if all you do is take shots at women.”

Talking to the morning show crew at the rival hip-hop radio station Power 105.1 Minaj stated that she wasn’t even going to perform ‘Starships.’

“After all this has been said and done, I wasn’t gonna do ‘Starships’ and I think people know that,” she told the crew, The Breakfast Club. “I’m way smarter than that. I know what people wanted to see…It was horrible timing. It was in bad taste.”

Minaj also said she was disappointed because she had a Summer Jam set planned that included surprise performances from Brooklyn’s Foxy Brown and Harlem’s Cam’ron.

“We had an amazing, amazing show, and that was the only disappointing thing,” she said.

Fellow Summer Jam performers Nas and Lauryn Hill slid into the headliner spot and, according to Rolling Stone, pulled together an impressive set that included the Fugees’ “Ready or Not” and “If I Ruled the World.” As rumors surfaced claiming that Hill was invited to Summer Jam as Minaj’s guest and therefore shouldn’t have performed, Hill took to Twitter to clarify the situation and to support Minaj’s decision not to perform.

“No disrespect to Nicki, but I need to clear up an inaccuracy,” she wrote. “I was not scheduled to be a special guest on her set at Summer Jam, I was invited by Nas to perform with him.

“I don’t have details on exactly what transpired between the station and the artists, but I do support artists standing by their beliefs, and walking with integrity. We have to find a better way to commercially exploit music, while giving artists their proper respect.

“This cannot be done while taking their contributions for granted, or trying to control the scope of their growth and power through threats and fear tactics. We can do better than this, there is a better way, or else ‘we’ (the proverbial we) find ourselves in danger of being hypocrites!!!”

As for the Hot 97 staff, Rosenberg refused to apologize for his remarks stating, “There is a get me to apologize movement, to which I can say, I’m absolutely not apologizing, because I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said on Monday evening. “I’m not going to change my stand because I’m at Summer Jam. I’ve been saying it for six months.”

While DJ Funkmaster Flex admitted that Rosenberg didn’t pick the right time and place to say that, he also faulted Lil Wayne for asking Ms. Minaj and the other artists on his label to boycott the show, thus depriving Ms. Minaj’s fans of a chance to see her.

The station’s program director Ebro Darden also appeared on one of the station’s morning shows on Tuesday to make it clear that he stood by Mr. Rosenberg. He said though Minaj’s records were not popular, the station had supported Ms. Minaj for years because she hails from Queens. However, he believes that Rosenberg had a right to disagree with her foray into pop music with ‘Starships’.

“That’s a hip-hop show,” he said referring to Summer Jam. “When artists want to go out and make songs for other formats, that’s their prerogative, but that doesn’t mean our hosts have to like it. It was not a direct shot at her, at her personality, at her as a woman — there was no sexual reference, there was no disrespect…It’s a real hip-hop stage, and in real hip-hop, things get said.”

Image Courtesy of   Nicki Minaj

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Current GRAMMY nominees Chris Brown ,deadmau5, Foo Fighters, David Guetta , and Lil Wayne will join for a special performance highlighting dance/electronica music for the first time ever on the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards (www.grammy.com ).

Music’s Biggest Night — hosted by two-time GRAMMY winner LL COOL J — takes place live on Sunday, Feb. 12 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in high definition and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The show also will be supported on radio worldwide via Dial Global, and covered online at GRAMMY.com and CBS.com, and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/thegrammys .

Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon. For GRAMMY coverage, updates and breaking news, please visit The Recording Academy’s social networks on Twitter and Facebook: www.twitter.com/thegrammys , www.facebook.com/thegrammys .

The performance will take place in a special outdoor tent adjacent to STAPLES Center on the Nokia Plaza at L.A. LIVE. Consulting and participating on this special segment is renowned hospitality company The Light Group’s HAZE Nightclub at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Four-time GRAMMY winner Lil Wayne has five nominations: Best Rap Performance for “Look At Me Now” (with Chris Brown and Busta Rhymes); two nods in Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “I’m On One” (with DJ Khaled, Drake and Rick Ross) and “Motivation” (with Kelly Rowland); Best Rap Song for “Look At Me Now”; and Best Rap Album for Tha Carter IV .

deadmau5 has three nominations: Best Dance Recording for “Raise Your Weapon” (with Greta Svabo Bech), Best Dance/Electronica Album for 4X4=12, and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for Foo Fighters’ “Rope” (deadmau5 Mix). Two-time GRAMMY winner Guetta is up for two awards: Best Dance Recording for “Sunshine” (with Avicii), and Best Dance/Electronica Album for Nothing But The Beat.

Previously announced performers for the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards include Adele (in her first live performance since undergoing vocal cord surgery last fall); Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson ; Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood ; Chris Brown ; Glen Campbell with The Band Perry and Blake Shelton ; Coldplay and Rihanna; Foo Fighters; Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt ; Bruno Mars ; PaulMcCartney; Nicki Minaj; Katy Perry ; Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band; and Taylor Swift.

Aldean, The Band Perry, deadmau5, Guetta, Minaj, and Shelton will perform on the GRAMMY telecast for the first time. Previously announced presenters are Marc Anthony , Dierks Bentley , Jack Black ,Drake, Fergie, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert , Gwyneth Paltrow , Ryan Seacrest , Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, and Ringo Starr .

LL COOL J has hosted “The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Music’s Biggest Night” since its inception in December 2008, and this is his first time hosting the annual GRAMMY Awards telecast.

Image Courtesy of  Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com

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Multi-platinum selling group Far East Movement (aka FM) on January 20 premiered the much-anticipated music video for ‘Jello’ through VEVO. The hypnotic high-energy hard-hitting ‘Jello’ (co-produced by The Stereotypes and FM and featuring Rye Rye) serves as the first song off ‘Dirty Bass,’ FM’s hot sophomore album out this spring.

Far East Movement’s maverick exploration of the bass end of the spectrum and pioneering club sound has incurred the wrath of self-described ‘music purity advocacy group’ Ban Low-frequency Oscillating Woofers or B.L.O.W.  The B.L.O.W. (http://www.bloworg.org) organization has filed a petition denouncing FM’s low-frequency-powered music.

Cherrytree Records released an official statement in response: “While we respect B.L.O.W.’s right to their opinion, we at Cherrytree… support Far East Movement’s right to create in the low frequency spectrum and appeal to everyone to please join us in opposing B.L.O.W.’s stance by backing Far East Movement’s right to artistic, sub-bass expression, banging new track ‘Jello’ and forthcoming new Cherrytree album ‘Dirty Bass.’”

The ‘Jello’ music video, directed by Matt Alonzo, shows FM infiltrating a press conference for the B.L.O.W. organization. FM, in disguise, sneak into the conference and turn it into a ‘Dirty Bass’ celebration demonstrating why a ban on Low-frequency bass is absurd, and convert the B.L.O.W. organizers into bass supporters. The video features cameos from comedian Andy Milonakis and multi-talented Jay Park along with the song’s guest vocalist, dance-rap sensation Rye Rye.

2011, was an amazing breakthrough year for FM with two Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 songs (‘Like a G6,’ ‘Rocketeer’), multiple award nominations, national TV performances and big tours with superstars Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lil Wayne, LMFAO and cutting edge acts La Roux, Robyn and Kelis.

2012, the band returns with ‘Dirty Bass,’ a dynamic universal party sound that furthers the ’808′ heavy bass, dance and electronic blends that bring booming trunk bass to international dance floors. FM shaped the ‘Dirty Bass’ sound with producers The Stereotypes and assistance from RedOne, David Guetta, Bangladesh, Dallas Austin and Martin “Cherry Cherry Boom Boom” Kierszenbaum.

Far East Movement are kicking off the year on the CherryTree Pop Alternative tour visiting Canada the beginning of February before hitting Europe to tour through March.

Image Courtesy of    https://www.facebook.com/fareastmovement

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Like a roller coaster, music has its ups and downs, changing frequently over the years and swapping artists, styles and flows like a game of blackjack. At its peak, it has catchy hooks, memorable lines and underlying messages to back up the crafty wordplay. Yet at its worst, it’s nothing more than words and sounds placed together in somewhat of a harmony.

No underlying messages. No catchy hooks. Yet, in the midst of being bombarded by music by hip hop icons like Drake, Rick Ross, J. Cole and the countless other entities dominating today’s music world, one under-the-radar name stood out unlike any other.

Nineteen-year-old Nicholas “Nick” Carter Green from Chicago, Illinois has grabbed the hip-hop world by the horns, combining his creative wordplay with  clever punchlines, smooth beats and a flow that embodies the prototypical upper-echelon rapper. I had a chance to catch up with Green and pick his brain about his recent success as of late.

“As far as I can remember, I had a love for that spotlight and all the attention and power that came with,” Green said. “We’re WorldStar famous now! It can only get better from here!”

Green’s recent hit off of his mixtape “XIX” hauled in over 5 million views on WorldStarHipHop.com, one of, if not the biggest portals for prospective, amateur and professional hip hop artists out there. You can check out his Remix to Drake’s hit, “Headlines,” here.

Green has released over 15 mixtapes and has been writing music since the tender age of nine years old. “Rise To Power”, “The.Other.Carter”, “Showcase”, “Mr. Carter” and “The Sampler” are just a few mixtapes the young artist has under his belt.

“I released about a thousand copies of that mixtape ["No Sleeping CD"] and I still didn’t think it was going to blow up like it did,” Green laughed. “I mean, everything changed when it dropped. People I had never met in my life either knew my name or knew I was the kid on the cover of the No Sleeping CD.”

Nick Carter Green has adopted the mantra “Music. Money. Love & Life” to persevere throughout any obstacles and push him to achieve his lifetime goal of climbing atop the rap game, a goal that he’s on pace to crack at any moment. Being featured on WorldStarHipHop and having his music played on DJ Timbuck2′s Go ILL radio show, Green is on the fast track to hip hop super-stardom.

The ceiling for the young artist is nowhere in sight, and the future looks incredibly bright for years to come. Combining his overflowing talent with his dedication to his passion, Nick Carter Green will be a household name in the near future. “Four songs a day. No more, no less.” he told me.

“I just wanted to push myself… to see if I could still have quantity, without jeopardizing the quality of it all. It’s that type of work ethic that’ll help me achieve my goal.”

NCG recently signed a contract with Indie Label, Zuma Records, so keep your ears open when you’re listening to the radio. You never know who might pop up.

You can download his latest mixtape, “XIX,” here.

You can also follow him on twitter: @NickCarterGreen .

Image Courtesy of  http://www.facebook.com/NickCarterGreen

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