We had a real dearth in the female rap world after  Missy Elliot took a break due to illness, Ms. Hill went kind of crazy, and Lil Kim/Foxy Brown, and Da Brat all had stints in prison. Nicki Minaj exploded onto the scene two years ago to change that trend and it looks like we are starting to see a new generation of Female MCs. Dominque Young Unique got a lot of buzz the past year and now Harlem's Azealia Banks is starting to blow up with songs like "212"and "L8R" getting love from a wide array of both  hip hop blogs and main stream hypster sites like Pitchfork.  I think the buzz for Banks is legit. The flows she uses and the beats she raps over remind me of some other recent acts like The New Boyz who try to modernize late 80s style rap.