This has taken me some time to realize, acknowledge, admit to myself, and admit publicly but:
I LOVE NICKI MINAJ
I know, this doesn't make me special or revolutionary BUT if you know me (which if you're reading this, there's a good chance you do) you would know that I am a huge cynic. Like gigantic. Seriously, I should switch to Gallatin and major in Cynicism with a minor in Being a Bitch (it could probably happen considering someone majored in "Keeping it Real"). On top of being a cynic, pop-culture critic, and some sort of queer-feministy activist, when I first heard of Nicki Minaj I was not impressed. I mean, most I knew about her is something about being some sort of bicurious and that she somehow knows how to put "pussy on your sideburns" which, quite frankly, I don't think anybody wants. So I was all like "Here we go, some trick-ass bird hoe pretending to make out with girls in order to get media attention and is just a useless siliconed up failure of a Black woman". (Harsh? I said I'd minor in Being a Bitch.)
And then a few things happened...
1- I saw her performance in the video for Trey Songz's blah song about alcohol blah blah "Bottom's Up". I think I read on pitchfork or COS something about how Minaj's performance was the only thing of interest in the video, and after watching the video I agreed.
2- I saw the video of her performance at the VMA's and was like "I don't know what the HELL that was, but I really liked it!"
So at this point I was all like, "I respect her. She's in a pretty monotonous, unexciting radio-driven industry right now where no one is really doing anything and instead of just being a trick-ass hoe bird doing trick-ass hoe bird shit, she's really trying to bring fun and creativity and some craziness to her 'ish. She recognizes she's gonna have to sell her sex and her body to get the spotlight, but once she has it she's gonna try to do something different too. Props to that neo-feministy hustle. Work it girl."
3- I listened to Monster. I was givin' the bitch respect but I still wasn't trying to show love or anything. My good friend told me I should listen to Monster because Minaj's verse on it is incredible. And I was all "Nahhhh". And then she was like "You don't understand, when I'm running and that song comes on it's her verse that gives me the strength to finish that last mile!" Now, this is the same girl who told me that she also imagines Beyonce's thighs to motivate her while running so I was taking that with a grain of salt, but I listened to it anyway. And thats when I fell in love. Not only does she flip between like, idk, 30 different characters during her verse, but she brings the most energy, game, and power on a track flooded with some of the toughest dudes in hip hop. Somehow between Kanye West, Jay Z, and Rick fucking Ross, Minaj not only has the ILLEST FLOW on the track but does the most creative and impressive thing with an awesome beat (seriously, the best thing any of the other rappers do with it is maybe Kanye's hook...snore) I honestly fast-forward 3:35 seconds into the song for her part every time I listen to the track. You should do the same.
Now look at what you just saw this is what you live for ahhhh, I'm a motherfuckin Monster!
So there you have it. I love Nicki Minaj. No matter what boring ass beat, bomb ass beat, stupid ass video and theme, or live performance demand is thrown her way, she makes it 100% entertaining and enjoyable, and does so with an impressive amount of talent.
People give her a lot of shit because she doesn't give a lot of credit to her foremothers of Hip-Hop. I'll do it for her. The first thing I thought about when I saw that VMA performance was Missy. Missy was by far and perhaps still holds the title for being the most creative, grotesque, in your face, zany female (or arguably male) MC. And then there's Lil Kim, the original "Black Barbie", Foxy Brown, etc. They were definitely great but I have to ask....when is the last time we had one of them around? Arguably, a decade. I would say it's been near a ten years since we had a fresh female MC all up in our faces the way they were and the way Nicki is now, and that may be the reason she doesn't spend a whole lotta time throwing props their way: because they had their time, stopped, and now the moment is hers. No one else is doing it, and I will go ahead and say she deserves her shine.
She is one of the handful of current artists that truly inspire me, and I never thought a "hood-rat-ass-trick-bird" would do that. So cheers to Nicki Minaj, and if you're still trying to hate....just give up.
"Haters you can kill yourselves"--Nicki Minaj, "Check it Out".
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