"I got 'em scared, shook, panickin'," Nicki Minaj boasts in her Eminem duet "Roman's Revenge," and anyone who's heard this one-of-a-kind MC knows she isn't kidding. Her mixtapes and guest shots made her massive — she totally stole Kanye West's "Monster," rhyming "Tonka," "Willy Wonka" and "bad bitch that came from Sri Lanka." On Pink Friday, the year's most anticipated hip-hop debut, she's already rapping about the superstar life. In the standout opener, "I'm the Best," she wonders, "Which world tour should I go on today?"

Photos: Nicki Minaj's Best Looks

Friday is surprisingly pop — there's nothing as weird or striking as her "Monster" cameo. Instead, Minaj aims for a Rihanna-style crossover approach, singing R&B choruses over electro floss and toning down her nasty side. Ri herself guests on "Fly," while Natasha Bedingfield does the hook-girl honors on "Last Chance." "Blazin" is a Kanye rematch, except this time he gets all the best lines (especially "I got two White Russians, but we also need some drinks").

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“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.