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Nicki Minaj was the talk of the town on Oct. 12, after she made some interesting comments about women in hip-hop.
The Pink Friday rapper took to Instagram Live to promote her latest single “Boyz” alongside former Lil Mix member Jesy Nelson. During their powwow, Minaj took some time to address Nelson’s recent Blackfishing drama that stirred following the release of their single as fans criticized the singer earlier this week for appearing too dark in the music video. Some social media critics even accused the star of using a “blaccent” while performing the song. Nelson shared that amid the backlash, one of her former Lil Mix bandmates had also been chastising her on social media, but before she could go into detail about the messages, Queens-bred rapstress quickly stepped in and directed Nelson to “focus on your own energy.”
“Sweetheart, take them text messages and shove it up your f****** ass,” Minaj continued, calling out Nelson’s scorned former groupmate. “Let her enjoy this time. If you was in this woman’s group and you ain’t talk about this s*** for 10 years, and as soon as you see she’s got a video coming out with Nicki Minaj… Print them text messages out, bust your a** open and shove it up your motherf****** a**. OK? And stop trying to hurt people and kill people’s lives and careers.”
However, some fans raised an eyebrow at Minaj when she began shifting the conversation to women being criticized heavily in hip-hop.
“It’s like everyone is just supposed to praise you 24/7,” Nicki says at the 48:40-mark. “Why would you even want that? Let me tell you what happens when that happens. What happens is when you put out an album, the sales won’t translate because people have been lying to you, and they haven’t told you they don’t like a song… Then when you put an album out and you thinking everybody love you. I’ve seen it recently happen. You know they put an album out, and it doesn’t sell what they want it to sell,” she added.
This is odd because wasn’t Minaj the one crying in 2012, after she was allegedly snubbed of the Best New Artist Award at the Grammys to Bon Iver? Nicki has shown numerous times throughout her career that she doesn’t take criticism well. Remember that scathing tweet she sent out after the awards made the announcement?
“Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation,” Minaj tweeted at the time. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”
Sore loser much?
Maybe it’s time for Nicki Minaj to take her own advice. There have been too many times where she hasn’t practiced what she has preached. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t an anti-Nicki post. I’m a Barb, hands down, but I’m tired of her flip-flopping on her ideals and going down this social media firestarter route. This is not Roman Reloaded Nicki. The old Nicki would shut people down artistically and let the music speak for itself. Minaj has been making headlines for everything but the music as of recent, from her crazy COVD-19 vaccine theories to her fictitious invitation to the White House. The truth is her behavior doesn’t fall far from this clouded “praise” she speaks of.
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Case in point, Nicki wrote some insulting messages to an intern at Karen Civil back in 2018 after she criticized the rapper’s musical direction.
The intern, named Wanna Thompson, took to Twitter and wrote:
“You know how dope it would be if Nicki put out mature content? No silly s***, just reflecting on past relationships, being a boss, hardships, etc. She’s touching 40 soon. New direction is needed.”
Thompson was simply giving her opinion, right? Nothing wrong with that, however, the head Barbie stormed into the writer’s inbox with rage telling her to “Eat a d***” and she even referred to her as “hatin ass h**,” according to theGrio.
“You must not have heard the Pinkprint or “Pills N Potion” “Bed of Lies” “Save Me” My recent feature with Alicia Keys, Tasha Cobbs,” she continued. “Just say you jealous. I’m rich, famous, intelligent, pretty and go! But wait, leave my balls. Tired of you sucking on them,” she concluded her vicious DM.
Wasn’t she saying to stay “focused on the music” just a minute ago? It’s this kind of backward contradictory rhetoric that has made me upset with the rapper time and time again.
Let’s not forget the shade she threw at Travis Scott after Astroworld beat out Queen for the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart that year. While I agree that Queen was a great album, Astroworld was also arguably a banger. Insider notes that the project sold a whopping 205,000 album units and charted two consecutive weeks after its release. Queen, which debuted at No.2, pulled in 185,000 album units. Not bad all for Minaj. However immediately following the news, Nicki was quick to blame both Scott and Kylie Jenner for using hype around the rapper’s merch and their child to increase album sales.
“I put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & Stormi. lol,” the rapper tweeted in reference to Jenner’s support of Scott’s Astroworld tour. “I’m actually laughing. #Queen broke the record of being number 1 in 86 countries. Thank Jesus & thank you to my fans.”
Why did little Stormi have to get thrown into the crossfire?
Minaj had qualms about Billboard counting Scott’s highly praised tour towards album sales and his chart position, but hip-hop is all about sportsmanship. The genre was built off competition. How come she couldn’t have just taken the L and continued on? The Barz loved the album. I loved the album, despite its number one spot snub. Minaj took it too far after she began to slam the rapper even further on her Queen Radio show claiming that he was out here “selling f—— clothes” instead of “selling f—— music.” That’s hater lingo to me, and it’s the Nicki Minaj fans have grown to dislike over the last few years.
I was so enamored with the “Only” rapper for her fearless bars and individuality when she came out unto the scene in 2007. Minaj literally stormed through and flipped the hip-hop game on top of its head with her lyrical prowess and punchy lines—especially at a time where things felt super stale among female MCs in the industry. As a Barb, I want the old Nicki back. I want to feel that same jolt of excitement when I first discovered the raw lyricist’s talent on Playtime Is Over. I’m tired of seeing her name posted all throughout social media for wackness, you know why? Because I know she’s better than this.
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