Source: iamboigenius.com

Miss Nicki Minaj just loves to show off her curves these days doesn’t she? From booty popping in both the “Dance (A$$)” remix video and “Stupid Ho*,” to rocking bikinis in “Beez in the Trap” and for this new “Starships” video, she literally wants you to kiss her a**, whether you think it’s real or not.
The visuals for her hit song off of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted last night, and in the clip, Minaj struts around in an array of revealing outfits that show off her well-documented derriere, and swings some colorful wigs for folks in Hawaii. Minaj winds up there thanks to a spaceship, and once she lands, the party begins with some Hawaiian dancers, paint and some sand that homegirl keeps rolling around in. Love the colors in the video (the water looks amazing!), but that’s about it honestly. She looks great actually, but all those booty shots she kept giving the camera were a bit much. The song still isn’t my thing, but it’s clear that somebody out there is loving it to the nines. Check out the video below and let us know your thoughts:

PS, this is the explicit version, so excuse the language from time to time. Thanks!

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Source: Zimbio.com

Add Nicki Minaj to the list of celebrities who’ve threatened to hang up their artist cap (and don’t go anywhere). Last week, Nicki shocked her “barbz” when she deleted her Twitter account and left millions of them in the dark. When pressed about her drastic choice, she told TV host Graham Norton:

“A voice in my head told me to delete my Twitter and that’s what I did. I had 11 million followers and I hope they will wait for me.”

They might not be waiting for much though if Nicki doesn’t start getting the respect she thinks she deserves. Apparently there are more voices in her head and this time they’re telling her to leave the rap game as a whole. Referring to herself in third person in an interview with BBC Radio 1 host Tim Westwood, Nicki Minaj threatened that she could soon be M.I.A.

“People aren’t even giving the kid props for taking it back to the essence… This is my fourth mixtape, really,” she said referring to her “Roman Reloaded album. “The kid did it like that so she could feed her fans. But really, now the kid is thinking maybe she should leave the game.”

For someone who appears to enjoy the limelight as much as she does, I hardly see her making good on this promise. If anything, it’s reverse psychology to get her barbz to go out and buy more albums. When Jay-Z threatened to retire and quit for two days in 2003 he came right back. Wacka Flocka said he’s done and he’s still hopping on songs, I’m pretty sure the self-titled Barbie isn’t going anywhere.

But let’s say she actually did decide to wave buh-bye to the game. Would you miss her?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: alleyesonwho.com

It’s a big week for Nicki Minaj! The new album, Roman Reloaded, dropped yesterday (the reviews aren’t all that kind though), so Nicki has been making her media rounds. She stopped by The Breakfast Club at Power 105.1 to chat it up with Angela Yee, DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God (who was nicer than usual) on the many female MCs coming at her head, what she would be doing if she wasn’t rapping, the haters, and that Grammy performance (yikes!). Here are the highlights:

Nicki has been lucky enough to work with a great number of popular artists in the short time that she has been out. As she put it: “Seriously, if anybody would have told me before my second album came out that I would work with Em, Jay, Kanye, Mariah Carey, Madonna, I would have said, you’re kidding me.” Her new album even has a slew of collaborations from big names in the game, but when she was asked about a person left that she would like to work with, surprisingly, it was another female: “My fans want a Beyoncé collab.”

DJ Envy and Charlamagne also asked her to touch on the fact many people (including old hip-hop heads) don’t understand her new sound, and that people think she needs to get back to her “essence.”

“I no longer have to prove myself to anybody. If I really did care that much my album wouldn’t have become so diverse. I made the album because I was just like, I don’t care. A lot of you guys don’t buy my album anyway so…this is the older people I’m talking about. But this generation, they get it and they know Nicki Minaj do work. But the older people, I’m not worried about them anymore. They’re going to get in where they fit in or get out. You don’t have to take Nicki Minaj back to nothing. Nicki Minaj knows who I am, and if I want to do what I did I could do it.”

For the first time ever, Nicki wasn’t directly asked about Lil Kim, however, she was asked about all the female MCs in general who like to call her out. Her response?

“Bless their hearts. I don’t go at nobody. I don’t say anything to them. What’s interesting is you guys always think I’m talking to somebody in particular. I’m good. I’m not writing records about any girls in the game past or present. I mean…we went at it, the best woman won, and I’m ready to move on. People make it a bigger deal than I make it. Now I’m enjoying myself, so in term of the girls, I said before, when a door opens for me, you just got another opportunity to do you. If you don’t like me, that’s fine.

And when asked about paying homage, she says that from the very beginning, despite what folks say, she did. She also touched on her difficult road to the top:

“I bowed down to everybody. I gave everybody their props. But when people start going at me…You know what I think? I think a lot of people thought I was going to crumble when people started going at me. People don’t know how I’m built. There’s nothing you can do to me that I haven’t gone through in my life 50 times worse.”

“I want it the most. A lot of girls want it, but they haven’t been tested so much along the way. When I first started making music…I had people purposely not tell me that record companies were interested in me. That’s why I’m so aggressive in my business life. I gave too many people the opportunity to do me dirty. I watch what Jay-Z did and I’m like, if he could do it I could do it.”

And she couldn’t leave that interview without talking about the wackest most talked about performance ever–her head-scratch inducing performance of “Roman Holiday” at the Grammys:

“That was my best performance ever! EVER! That was my skit for the “Roman Holiday” video. Of course, they [mainstream America] were like, ‘Why are you calling yourself Roman? Why did they even let you perform at the Grammys black chick?’ I was happy they didn’t understand it. I don’t always want to be understood. I loved my performance, shout out to Laurieann Gibson because she gets me.

Laurieann, of course, was most recently known as the choreographer for Diddy’s groups, and a creative director for Lady Gaga. She’s worked with Nicki on many occasions, and did so for the controversial performance.

“It’s just a theatrical piece and I like to do different stuff. I was happy they didn’t get it, I was proud of my performance, it was my best performance to date. I loved the production…I loved everything about it. I loved it!”

If you say so, girl! Nicki also revealed to the world what she would be doing if she wasn’t a world famous rapper/pop star, and it’s less Barbie and more…Gloria Allred.

“If I wasn’t doing rap, I would be a lawyer and I would relish the opportunity to be a housewife. I like that!”

Check out Nicki’s interview in full below. Did you cop the album yet? Thoughts on it or on her comments during the interview? Let us know below!

Source: rap-up.com

Here she goes singing again.

But Nicki Minaj is not alone in her attempt to pretend she can sing on the track “Right By My Side.”  She gets some backup from Chris Brown on this poppy, formulaic track. And by formulaic,  I mean that it sounds exactly like everything else on the radio. Not all too well executed, pretty repetitive…you get the idea. And is that Auto-tune I hear? *sighs* At this point in the game, if you have to rely on Auto-tune, just stick to what you do best and leave singing to the pros.

But in all honesty, this track could be pretty decent if Minaj just stuck to lyrical tirades about ratchet chicks like she does around the 2: 50 mark. But alas, we’re all pretty clear on the fact that she’s changed and is hoping to be a mainstay in the pop world, so this track fits.  The song will be on her upcoming album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, which comes out April 3. Check it out below and let us know if you’ll be rocking in the club to it, or shuddering at the mere thought of it later.

Sooooo. Pass or play for you?

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Source: The YBF

Beyonce usually takes the heat when it comes to the skin lightening debate, and although I wouldn’t put it past her, being on the lighter side I know how a super bright flash and yellow surroundings can erase one’s pigment in a snap, so I never felt Bey was trying to deny her blackness. Lil Kim does catch a few side eyes in the bleach department, but we already talked about her issues last week, so we know what’s up there. But there’s someone else who’s been sliding under the increasingly lighter and whiter radar since they stepped on the scene, and that’s Nicki Minaj.  The “Pink Friday” superstar declared herself the black Barbie when we first saw her, but Christie she is not. At this point she could drop the black part and no one would know the difference, and it seems that’s just how she and her creative team like it.

For the most part, Nicki gets way with her chameleon looks because her hair is almost always some shade that doesn’t typically occur in nature. This causes you to forget the fact that her skin has also been every shade under the sun except the one she was born with: brown. Take the Roman Reloaded cover Nicki released today, for example. The rapper/singer is completely unrecognizable with spattered paint covering her pink body. I might have thought this was Lady Gaga with the mangled blonde hair covering her head and breasts, which are an even lighter shade of pink, had I not been told otherwise. Although, if you look closely, I think you might see a brown finger. This isn’t the first time Nicki’s color was a bit off either. In this month’s issue of Vogue, she’s featured in what would otherwise be just a normal fashion spread, except for the fact that her skin was completely painted or photoshopped some aqua shade of blue. She also followed up her Marilyn Monroe-esque look in Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Luvin’” video with an actual song of that name, and a pale-blonde look to match. And although you may not remember this little fact from the way black women praise Marilyn, she’s not in fact African American, she’s a white woman from LA. I’m not one for conspiracy theories or to be too hyped up about an anti-negro agenda, but I honestly think the way Nicki Minaj is presented nowadays is a calculated effort to make consumers forget that she’s black.

It’s not even just Nicki’s skin that makes me call her escape from black America into question, it’s her music as well. Nicki’s had “crossover” success before she was even really fully accepted by the rap community or the black community. Initially, people were excited about the presence up a female MC after years of rap being a man’s world, and merely a year after stepping onto the scene she’s traded in the hardcore lines she once spit for bubble gum songs that catch the fancy of little English girls and magazine editors like Anna Wintour. When she speaks of not breaking down her upcoming “Roman Reloaded” album by genre, saying “There is no rap or pop for me,” she doesn’t have to explain anything to us. Her traditional rap songs are failing commercially while her pop songs climb the charts so we know who she’ll be catering to if she wants to keep spending $50,000 a month on Louis bags.

I never got into Nicki Minaj to begin with because of her caricature-ish branding so I’m not so much concerned with her success in the rap game as I am the need to appropriate white beauty to be successful as a pop artist. If you want to be a character, fine, but why a white one? From skin lightening to blonde hair brightening and the total elimination of brown skin period, it’s clear some white washing has been done and I don’t doubt that that has played a major part in her acceptance by the likes of the producers behind the Grammy’s and the Victoria Secret Fashion shows and the other stages Nicki has been given the opportunity to grace.

I know mainstream success and acceptance by white America is the Holy Grail for so many black artists, but when you get it this way, I have to question whether it’s a triumph at all. Sure, deep down she knows she’s black (maybe) but does the audience? Or are they more comfortable with her being a pink girl with a blonde wig and an English accent that looks just like any other Barbie rather than a threatening black woman? It’s fine to play dress up every now and again but when are you going to be your real self? You know, the black girl from South Jamaica, Queens, who stepped on the scene saying “Playtime is Over.”

Do you think Nicki Minaj’s look has become increasingly white washed? Do you think it’s intentional and plays a role in her success as a pop singer?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Nicki Minaj is giving new meaning to her album title “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” launching a vibrant limited edition collection of nail polish in collaboration with OPI Nail Lacquer. The Trinidadian-born American musician has partnered with OPI to create six dynamic polish colors, including a bright aqua “Fly,” metallic silver “Metal 4 Life,” purple crackle “Super Bass Shatter,” silver “Save Me,” and –you guessed it—the shocking pink of “Pink Friday.”

Minaj, whose first album went platinum last year, follows in the footsteps of fellow artists Katy Perry and Justin Bieber who have also released OPI color collections. For Katy Perry, “Last Friday Night,” appeared as an electric blue, while Bieber’s “One Less Lonely Girl,” shone in a glittery purple.

“OPI is so excited to work with Nicki,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director in a company release. “Nicki has taken the hip hop world by storm, but her music is only part of the equation. She’s also become a fashion inspiration, noted for her daring costumes and hair color both on and off the stage.”

Of course Minaj is no stranger to such dazzling partnerships—the artist is also the new female face of makeup company MAC’s “Viva Glam” campaign for 2012, which stands to raise millions for those battling HIV/AIDS via sales of Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass gloss. In 2010, the campaign fronted by Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper raised more than $32 million, and this year Ricky Martin joins Minaj to raise even more funds for research and awareness.

One things for certain, with so many colors to choose from for both nails and face, Minaj will have her pick of the glitter when she hits the road on her first headline tour later this year. The only question is which ones Niki will wear, and which ones will be sported by her alter ego Roman Zolanski!

Fans interested to coordinate colors with Minaj (or Roman) can find her new OPI line for sale at Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 per bottle.