My correction: Brat was just talking about the beef. She actually likes Nicki
Yeah and as far as Queen Latifah talking about Nicki
Quote:
I like everything I’ve heard from her so far. What I do like about her is number one, I got mad love for Lil Wayne. He’s bringing her up, he’s giving her an opportunity to come up through his camp. She’s showing and proving. Eve did the same thing. She spit with every dude in the Ruff Ryders camp, and that showed that she had the courage, gumption, talent and ability to be in this game. But then the records that she made were great records that talked about things that females wanted to talk about, and they were hit records. Her first album was platinum, so to me, when we do get on, we make a big splash because there aren’t that many of us. We stand out from the crowd. I’m hoping that there’s not just Nicki Minaj, but that there’s someone else out there, the next whoever, that’s waiting to have that same opportunity that she’s getting right now. But God bless her, I hope she blows up, because that’s what we need right now. We need that female energy in the game.
Quote:
"I know that I've had something to do with it. People paved the way for me and you pave the way for others. You have to expand the game as much as you can for the ladies. I've always kind of been a champion for the ladies in that sense. Even if we don't like each other necessarily, I appreciate that each of us has our own voice and we can express ourselves the way we see fit. Not that Nicki is like me per se, but I think many female rappers have been inspired by me as I have been inspired by others.”
and just recently Nicki called Queen Latifah her role model so she doesn't have a problem with her either.
I dunno... I think more of the vets like Nicki than Nicki stans think.
Azealia is doing dance music AS WELL as Urban. Listen to 1991 and then listen to anything from Fantasea and you'll see that Azealia is pulling the same card as Nic, except her music is more unique. So THAT comparison is laughable, especially when Azealia herself claims herself as a Rapper NOT a Hip-Hop artist.
Iggy just announced an electropop mixtape, along with her Glory project, which again is what Nicki's doing, albeit on one album.
You can't compare Nicki, Iggy, and Azealia to Kim, Missy, and Latifah because NOWADAYS women in Hip-Hop want to be WITH the men, they WANT to be GLOBAL. Kim, Missy, Latifah are amazing artists, but Hip-Hop was LOCAL when they were around.
At any Azealia song being near the mainstream pop of Super Bass, Starships etc
With that said, good for Nicki, she has done a lot in a little time. Can't knock her hustle.
At any Azealia song being near the mainstream pop of Super Bass, Starships etc
With that said, good for Nicki, she has done a lot in a little time. Can't knock her hustle.
#Oop. I love Russell, he's so right tho. You never hear them call Jay-Z a sellout when he was making songs with Coldplay or heard his songs rotating on POP radios. Not to mention Chris Brown performed TUTM and Don't Wake Me Up on BET yesterday but where is his backlash? People do the must on Nicki. It's not like she ditched rapping and totally went to be a singing Popstar. Nothing wrong with being diverse.
Chris has gotten a ton of backlash that goes beyond the music...
I'd say more hip hop-influenced dance song for 212. Azealia herself says she's not a hip hop artist.
With regards to the article in the OP, one thing I disagree about is the bit about Nicki making "hip hop exciting again". Clearly the article is talking in a mainstream sense, which is fine.
Nicki has NEVER EVER had a top 10 hip hop hit, and she probably NEVER EVER will. She's done absolutely nothing for the mainstream success of hip hop. She has a massive fanbase, but most of her fanbase now consists of dance-pop fans. On Twitter, whenever she asks what her next single will be, 90% of her fans say Pound the Alarm or Whip It or whatever. On her Youtube videos, all I see is comments like "Her dance songs are so much better than her urban songs", and 90 thumbs up to the comment. She hasn't increase the popularity of hip hop. She hasn't brought hip hop to a new audience. Most of her fans don't like hip hop, and most people have never heard any of Nicki's hip hop songs before!!!
I don't like this article because it assumes that to be a female is some kind of offense.
Although it claims that the awards should not be gender-specific, it is quick to give primary superiority to male rappers while denigrating other female rappers. Sure, it praises Nicki, singling her out as being a superior rapper who is female, but at the same time it disrespects other female rappers and other females.
It's basically, "You're better than the other females, so you can compete with the men."
I entered the topic, thinking it would something in line with my blog post.
Quote:
Nicki Minaj - Reshaping the definition of a female rapper
Posted 6/4/2012 at 1:43 PM by vuelve88
I am growing increasingly fond of Nicki Minaj. I will admit that I don't follow her very much, solely latching onto singles and album tracks that find a way of catching my attention, but I think I am beginning to better understand who she is and what she is bringing to the world of music.
To begin, I think there are misconceptions about her. I think that her title as a "femcee", a female rapper, has the misfortune of typecasting, dictating what the kind of artist she should be. It places boundaries on the kind of music she can release, the way she ought to present herself, and even physically restricts her vocal capabilities. There is a belief that a rapper is a rapper through and through, as if once a person is given a title, their other capabilities and interests cease to exist.
What is refreshing about Nicki is that she is trying to break this mold. She feels free to work on a Pop track with David Guetta or release her own Pop tracks or Pop-Rap hybrid tracks. She dresses in an unconventional fashion. She sings even when she may not have the strongest singing voice. She confounds expectations of what it means to be a rapper.
This can be a difficult task to attempt. By deviating from the norm, you draw attention to yourself. You set yourself up for the potential to be criticized. I think Nicki Minaj is well aware of the situation she is in. With her latest album, she has taken precautionary measures to help ease the transition, providing tracks that are more in line with the standard definition of rap by a female rapper and tracks that represent the other possibilities of a female who raps (the latter placing emphasis on her being a person with multiple talents, including the ability to rap). She is trying to show that she is more than simply a rapper, which is not to demean other rappers, but to show that she has the liberty to make whatever kind of music she would like.
Some might point fingers and say, "But this isn't like 'Old Nicki'," but perhaps the Nicki Minaj of the past, from her early mixtapes, had other pressures that we are not aware of. Had Nicki initially presented herself as colorful Pop-Rap hybrid, she may have not have been accepted by a record label. Now that she has found success, though, she has earned some room to take a risk.
