NEW YORK – While the death of hip-hop has been a matter of debate in recent years, the demise of the star female emcee had been all but accepted.

There had always been at least one female rap act to contrast hip-hop’s defining male edge – Queen Latifah, Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill. But in the past few years, women rappers were mere blips on the scene, and the occasional hit only underscored how weak the field had become.

Until now.

Nicki Minaj, the in-your-face, highly animated sex kitten and protege of rap prince Lil Wayne, has not only emerged as hip-hop’s leading female, she’s outdoing her male counterparts, too.

The 26-year-old Minaj has yet to release an official studio album, but she’s saturating all facets of hip-hop.

She’s costarred on songs with Lil Wayne, Drake, Usher, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Diddy, among others. She’s also set to appear on Kanye West’s upcoming CD. With her collaborations, she’s landed 10 songs on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart, including three in the Top 10; and Minaj’s had eight overall tunes on the Hot 100.

Her current single, “Your Love,” spent several weeks on top of the rap charts; it’s the first time a female act, as the lead artist, has topped that chart since Lil’ Kim did in 2003. And “Your Love” is steadily climbing elsewhere, peaking at No. 4 and No. 14 on the R&B and Hot 100 charts, respectively.

“I think since Nicki came out there’s going to be a lot of new girls coming out,” producer-rapper Pharrell said. “There’s always one that paves the way and opens the door (and) I think she reopened the door to hip-hop for females.”

Minaj, whose real name is Onika Maraj, was born in Trinidad, but grew up in Queens, N.Y. Lil Wayne discovered Minaj and signed her to his Cash Money imprint last year. She’s released three mixtapes and performs with the rap group Young Money, which includes Lil Wayne and Drake. “Now that you have somebody that has pretty much her own style and does her own thing, people are gravitating toward it, so I think that makes her stick out ’cause she’s so different,” said Ludacris, who had Minaj rap on his hit “My Chick Bad.”

Minaj’s style is one that is playful, youthful and wild. She wears wigs, sings and raps in various accents and boasts about her sexuality, even playing up bisexuality.

Like Minaj, a lot of female rappers reached their height in the mid 1990s to early 2000s as part of a hip-hop posse.

Junior M.A.F.I.A introduced Lil’ Kim, the multiplatinum diva who flaunted her sex appeal. Jay-Z introduced Foxy Brown, a feisty, skilled rapper who battled Lil Kim for rap’s top female spot in the ’90s. And Ruff Ryders, led by DMX, brought forth Eve.

50 Cent said the decline of those kind of posses has limited new female talent.

“There’s not as many female rappers because there’s not as many emerging crews,” 50 Cent explained. Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown both have seen their careers wane after criminal charges led to time behind bars.

Eve has achieved platinum success, won a Grammy and stretched into television and movies, but she has had trouble releasing her fourth album after two disappointing singles in 2007.

Eve says one voice that is certainly missing is Lauryn Hill’s: “She was our female consciousness. She was our most positive voice and we need that back.”

Hill, who first appeared with The Fugees alongside Wyclef Jean and Pras, has only released one studio album, but is arguably still hip-hop’s most celebrated female lyricist. Her 1998 solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” won five Grammys and has sold eight million copies.

It has also been some time since Elliott released new music; her rep says her new CD will be out next year. In the late 1990s and for much of the new millennium, the rapper-singer-producer was a multiplatinum powerhouse with her theatrical, fun style.

Queen Latifah, who’s segued to acting and singing, says when Nas declared that hip-hop was dead in 2006, that was partially due to the lack of feminine voices.

“Part of the reason hip-hop was dead is because there weren’t any female emcees out, really like in the forefront of hip-hop, playing on the radio, in the daytime, every day,” Latifah said.

But when Minaj releases her debut album “Pink Friday” on Nov. 23, the resurrection may finally be complete.