Dear Old Nicki

I love Nicki Minaj. She’s like lady gaga to me. Obsessive, absurd, creative. I enjoy her quirky clothes and rhymes. But how should she be looked at as a female rapper? 

            Is Nicki’s “success” a victory for women? At first glance you would think so, because she is a woman. However, despite the liquid leather pants and wigs, Nicki does some interesting things to avoid being identified as a female.

              For a long time, female rappers have deepened their voice and changed their mannerisms to appear more aggressive, violent and masculine. Nicki goes back and forth between talking about the aggressive and violent things usually identified with male rappers and stereotypical female behavior. For example, in Bottoms up “We be doin donuts while we waving the 380, we give a lot of money to the babies out in Haiti”. Here Nicki’s voice changes as she points out that she walks the line between gangsta and domestic. Nicki decidedly crosses to the male side of the gender identification line in “Romans Revenge”, where she tells listeners “I am not Jasmine, I am Aladin”. Nicki would rather be the poor Aladin than the wealthy princess Jasmine!  In the rest of the song, she goes on to point out how she is a superior female MC, along with Eminem who talks about killing women and harassing gays, two of Nicki’s largest audiences.

              Nicki may or may not want to be identified as a woman. She doesn’t really think highly of them, as her songs often reference keeping “bitches” around. Nicki has talked openly about being bisexual, and also loves to sign women’s breasts at concerts. In the song little freak, she’s “plotting on how to take Cassie away from Diddy”. However, Ms. Minaj has also publically stated that she does not intend to be in a relationship with a woman, or even to have sex with a woman. What, then, would be the advantage of the tease? Well, because men do it, simply. We don’t expect male rappers to be in love with a woman, and the sex that they do brag about is less about love making and more about exploitive, dominating sexual practices with women. Why should Nicki be any different? She can “keep a couple ho’s like Santa, keep a Vixen”, just like Little Wayne does. But why should she have a healthy, balanced relationship with one? What would be the point?

            What Nicki shows us is that, to be a successful female rapper, you need to look like a Barbie, but act like a man. But with all this, can I be mad at Dear Old Nicki? This monster is not an independent creation, but the result of a culture that teaches women that they are to be judged by their success in assimilating to stereotypically male behaviors and values, a culture that teaches them that women are not worthy of love, or respect, and it is pointless to be a woman. Its not Nicki’s fault I guess, and not my fault for liking the music.