Anyone who has talked music with me in the last few weeks has heard about my obsession with Nicki Minaj. Nicki, first and foremost, is just plain awesome. She is the type of woman I would never have the gaul to be; every new Nicki verse I hear excites me more than the one before.
Initially, I was disgusted by Nicki. When I heard her verse in Young Money's "Bedrock," in which she explains how she would like to put "this pussy on your sideburns," I a) wanted to vomit, and b) wondered how they let this gross chick roll in the big leagues with the likes of Lil' Wayne and Drake. However, the more Nicki I listen to, the more I fall in love.
The first time I heard Nicki's verse on the godsend of a track "Monster," I knew she was on to something. Her verse makes the song, and that is certainly no easy task considering who else is featured on the track. To be the best in that song means not only knocking Kanye West, Jay Z, and Rick Ross out of the park, but that also means Nicki stole the spotlight from my hipster hearthrob Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, whose collaboration with Kanye had the potential to make my hip hop year. Also, anyone who refers to herself as the "black Hannah Montana" automatically has my undying love and affection.
Minaj not only has clever verses and funny nicknames on her resume; she is pretty damn culturally significant. Nicki is in the running to be one of the more influential females in modern popular culture. Her style is promiscuous and revealing, but there is more to it than that. Nicki brings my two favorite pastimes from Kindergarden, Barbie and pink foofy dresses, and somehow contorts them into risque sexual items fit for a female member of a world-renowned rap crew. The craziest part is Nicki is really good, like really, really good. In an interview with the famous New York radio station Hot 97 this summer, Kanye West explained that Nicki is "the scariest artist in the game right now." On her mixtape "Beam Me Up Scotty," Nicki proves Kanye right.
"Beam Me Up Scotty" is a great mix of songs you've heard before (Go Hard ft Lil Wayne and Best I Ever Had ft Drake), songs you've probably never heard before, and Nicki's life musings and commentary. In "Still I Rise," Nicki Minaj spends the opening verse referring to herself in the second person, saying things like "I mean she okay/but she ain't all that/ she ain't the next bitch/tell that bitch fall back" and "you know her last name Minaj/she's a lesbian." Then, of course, Nicki explains that "still I rise." Nicki also explains that she is in fact paving the way for future "real bitches," because "real if
"Nicki wins then all of ya'll gettin' meetings." Nicki knows she's good, knows she's making it, and that pretty soon--perhaps when her album Pink Friday drops on November 23--her haters will be entirely irrelevant.
Nicki's fuck the haters attitude, ridiculous attire, and overall rogue demeanor are clearly inspired by America's favorite free bitch, Lady Gaga. On Beam Me Up Scotty, when Nicki explains how she is "relevant in a world of irrelevant bitches" and encourages her fans to "be a bad bitch, never be a stupid bitch." Nicki, on Twitter, refers to her fans as "Barbz" and "Kens," much like Gaga's little monsters. Gaga has created a cultlike following of males and females both gay and straight, because she is just so crazy and convincing; she has created an empire for herself based mostly off shock value (and her undeniable talent).
Nicki is hip hop's Lady Gaga. She is shocking, she is crazy, she is a little much--but she has it. She has the brilliant social commentary lyrics; "my money's so tall that my Barbies couldn't climb it" is undeniably awesome. She is relevant and a bad bitch and she knows it.
Eagerly awaiting the day Nicki and Gaga collaborate,
G
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