Hip-hop 50: When Nicki Minaj crowned Lisa Leslie the baddest

Editor’s note: In honor of hip-hop turning 50, ESPN tapped the culture’s top voices to write about their favorite athlete name-drops in hip-hop history.

Running down the court, I’m dunkin’ on ’em: Lisa Leslie. — Nicki Minaj on Ludacris’ “My Chick Bad” (2010)

A Nicki Minaj bar in its ideal form transmits glee above all else. You can hear the relish, feel it like a love bite. Her affinity for sports punning creates a category all its own. The Queens native is not particularly choosey in this arena, whipping together athletic maneuvers and hometown heroes from various disciplines at will. But it’s the musicality that matters, the pleasure of the thing being the ultimate principle.

The rule applies as much to featured appearances, in which Minaj takes special pride. For example, picture what is now vintage: Nicki in the black and pink, Nicki with the bayang, Nicki with Ludacris on “My Chick Bad,” a song praising having a partner, per the chorus, “badder than yours.” On theme, the references run female, and Ludacris has a couple of his own, with nods to Venus Williams and Serena Williams (and, more facetiously, Tiger Woods‘ ex-wife Elin Nordegren).

And then Nicki, enters the room like so:

Now all these b—–s wanna try and be my bestie,

But I take a left and…