As much as I've tried to repress it, and feed into the negativity surrounding Nicki Minaj (folks being nit-picky over her overall image and the meaning of her lyrics), I can no longer contain my adoration of Nicki Minaj. She lets every woman and girl channel a "little Nicki" inside them that lets them be crazy, ridiculous, and insane, all while leading a fierce movement of our own. She used the all-too-popular "Barbie" doll image and turned it into her own brand. She bursted on the scene and made a huge statement. She's so much more universal (to me) than female rappers that have come before her. She stretched herself outside of rap, into pop, gaining a wider audience and I think that's simply genius. If you could reach the point where you have a 7-year old white girl singing your songs on Ellen Degeneres, then you're doing something right. People call her fake because of the whole "Barbie" thing, or a sell-out because of the whole rap-pop transition she made, but Nicki Minaj has been able to keep herself fresh with her outlandish outfits and wigs, and has still been able to maintain herself as a well-know artist. People don't realize that one must do what they have to do first, before they can do what they want to. In this case, in order to gain the enormous audience and fame she has, she had to reach over into pop and experiment with something new. As much as many may love hardcore rap, that only reaches but so many in comparison to pop. She found an angle by which she could appeal to many while still inserting her rap here and there. She couldn't just be raw. I've seen it with Rihanna. We all loved her as the sixteen-year old Island Girl, but paid much more attention to her when she was the "Good Girl Gone Bad" and fully transitioned into pop. Some can't handle the raw, Caribbean flare. In Nicki's case, they couldn't handle her raw style and bars, so she found another way to deliver them.
Nicki is also an amazing business woman. She has her own perfume, her own moscato, her own line of clothing, her own MAC lipstick, her own headphones, and even her own Beats Pill. Honestly, whenever I think pink, besides Breast Cancer Awareness, I think Nicki, and she has branded herself well enough to make it marketable. That's an inspiration. How many women, with her kind of fame, in the rap industry, maintain this level of entrepreneurship? Close to none.
I'll never forget the time "Itty Bitty Piggy" came out. I was never the one to really listen to rap, but I tolerated it. When I heard Nicki spit those verses over Soulja Boy's "Donk" beat, I was hooked. I knew every word, every breath, I even knew how to change my voice so that it could sound like hers. Other girls in my school caught the bug too. I saw some walking around with her iconic bob with the pink hair in the back, and Barbie necklaces. My friends and I downloaded almost every song from her mixtapes and any song she was featured on, we just waited until her verse came so that we could go HAM. Years later, she has my (then nine year old) sister singing along to "Super Bass". Now, after listening and falling in love with "Pills N Potions" and singing with her word-for-word at the Fourth of July Philly Jam, I'm eagerly anticipating her new album. Clearly, she was influential and has remained so for a while now. Give her some credit.
Now, I'm not here to sound like a fanatic or a die-hard Barb, but I really want people to appreciate what Nicki has done with her work. People will say that she "sold-out", but when she was underground for so long, rapping about some real shit, no one cared to listen. So I understand why she had to change, why she had to branch out. She explained it in "Dear Old Nicki". We're in a world where we have to be constantly stimulated. In music, we want to be reminded of the classic oldies but with fresh and unique intertwined. What we're asking is demanding, and I think Nicki's approach to it was appropriate. Once I let go of everyone's doubting and the "she's doing too much/she's fake" mantras, I really got to see and embrace her for who she really is. That was heightened even more when she made her speech at the BET Awards addressing the fact that it is difficult to thrive in a male-dominated world. Even in your craft, in your passion, you have to work twice as hard (or even harder) just to get people to BELIEVE and even consider that your work can match the caliber of men. It goes deeper than allegedly "throwing shade" at Iggy Azalea.
Nicki is living her dream and doing what she loves. That alone is motivation for women and girls everywhere to do the same. Besides the money, fame, and power, that's all a product of resilience and hard work. She shows us that the ultimate prize is to embody your dream and encourage others to do the same. We may be scrutinized, we may slip-up or become deterred, but that should never stop us from being fulfilled. Nicki is more than what we see of her and more than what I can say of her. We've witnessed glimpses of her growth, development and how she has CHANGED. She's only human. She has showed us how, in different courses of our lives, change is important, but must be embraced in order to be better than you've ever been before. It was just magnified under the scope of fame, and some can't bare to see celebrities being human. But she's still made it. One thing's for sure, Nicki is doing the damn thing, and I ain't mad. So for those who need inspiration, or those who just don't get the hype around Nicki, look and listen a little closer. Her existence alone is the spearhead of an empowering movement, and I am here for it. She is one of the most influential women of our generation, a loaded statement, but an appropriate and deserved one. Reign on Queen Barb, I'm standing right there with you.
Also, she a Trini so that's always a plus :)
