Maybe it's time to stop caring about Nicki Minaj. Not as a human being or a person—because, you know, life is precious and everyone's a unique snowflake that adds to the fabric of life through mixed metaphors. But, let's be honest, most people don't care about Nicki Minaj as a human being, but as an artist and corporate action and, as both, her actions at this point are pretty much that of an ugly-ass snowflake.
To be clear, Nicki Minaj is far from the only artist spreading anti-love, disharmonious messages in her music, but she is spreading anti-love, disharmonious messages in her music and that needs to be taken to task.
The latest point of entry in this conversation is, naturally, the lyric video for latest single "Only", featuring Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown from her delayed third studio album The Pinkprint. But, even before the video came out, the song was problematic. Because there's Nicki—ostensibly a feminist figure, by default—allowing herself to be used like some sort of blow-up doll by her labelmates and "brothers" Drake and Wayne.
Drake, engaging in patriarchal misogyny masquerading as sensitive respect, comes on the track with "I never fucked Nicki 'cause she got a man"— basically saying, I don't respect you enough as a person to say you have a choice in the matter of whether we fuck or not, and even though you have a boyfriend that I don't respect to the point where I would not objectify his woman in public, he is still a man and I'm going to respect him to the point where I will not cuckold him because bro code. (It's interesting to note that Drake doesn't always hold himself to this standard, but can be constant in his treatment of women as plot points in his musical narratives in generally skeevy ways.)
For his part, Wayne introduces himself on the song continuing with the same logic, while conflating pleasure with pain: "I never fucked Nic and that's fucked up/ If I did fuck, she'd be fucked up/ Whoever is hitting ain't hitting it right/ 'Cause she act like she need dick in her life"—which is like, whoa.
With "brothers" airing you out in public like this, who needs catcallers?
Granted, these offenses are squarely the responsibility of the men speaking them, but Nicki has a huge level of ownership here because it's her song.
As a powerful woman in a male dominated world that's often violent and dismissive to women, Nicki Minaj is a symbol, an icon. And, if she's not using her influence to at least keep these types of messages off of records released under her own imprimatur, what is she really doing?
This all without even getting into the conflicts of the lyric video. Regardless, Nicki apologized "if" she offended anyone and stated that she would "never condone Nazism in my art." Except for when she does. But, whatever.
Making a call for a collective "bye, Felicia" to Nicki isn't just about one misstep—the egregiousness of that misstep notwithstanding. It's about the greater pattern of anti-love, disharmonious messages that have become the hallmark of her music.
Let's look at her preceding singles—there was the insightful pablum of "Pills N Potions" which was sandwiched in between the "Lookin Ass Nigga" (which not only birthed a stank apology due to its careless artwork, but also a righteous bit of artistic commentary) and her Sir Mix-a-Lot-inspired "Anaconda", where she raps—and it needs to be emphasized that this is a direct quote—"I let him hit 'cause he slang cocaine," while putting forth a platform of dispensing sexual favors in return for Alexander McQueen shoes.
This summer, she also appeared on Usher's "She Came to Give it To You", mainly to spot a guy in the club and tell him that "I'm trying to get faded—nigga, go and get the drugs." This is more than just the type of thing to make the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee blush. If these are the kinds of messages that we're accepting of, then white supremacy and misogyny can kick their feet up because their work here is done.
The most troubling thing about all this is not the relative success of these songs in the marketplace—"Anaconda" broke viewing records on Vevo upon its release because dat ass, yo—but, that these songs still showcase the talent and wordplay that made us all love Nicki in the first place. There's absolutely no denying her skill level as a writer, even when it's put to lesser ends. "Anaconda" is full of quotable couplets and, honestly enough, "Lookin Ass" does the same with pinpoint accuracy, while simply adopting a "turnabout is fair play" mentality to reverse the kinds of messages male rappers have been sending to women since rap was rap.
Rappers—both male and female alike— with "core" audiences based in "the streets" have long had to find the balance of satisfying their first listeners while being palatable to the corporate forces that make things like a judgeship on "American Idol" happen. It's an undoubtedly trying feat to balance the two—especially as the music industry continues to atrophy and requires the financial aid of outside interests to get to $29 million of net worth. Cashing in while selling out (without looking like you're selling out) almost necessitates that artists figuratively (if not literally) show their asses every now and then just to prove a point. And, on that front, Nicki Minaj's choices are no different from Jay Z or Kanye West, who regularly hurl a "fuck you" towards the status quo and their corporate overlords. But Nicki Minaj isn't raging against the machine. She's using her considerable talent and mega-platform to rage against relatively broke motherfuckers like you and sending some seriously backwards-ass messages to the young people who emulate her.
Obviously, the main and most egregious transmitters of anti-love in hip-hop are men. And it would be insane to think that ignoring Nicki Minaj will somehow block the signals of misogyny and hate that are being broadcast by the corporate music complex. But, a t a certain point, the sound of a tuneful hook can’t be accepted as enough signal in the noise of disharmony. It’s simply on us to stop waiting for what Nicki Minaj could be, and accepting what she's actually doing and just move on.
In recent years, she's stopped presenting herself as a white girl and human Barbie doll, but she's doubled-down on the ass shots and is making music that's anti-love and disharmonious. She obviously doesn't care about us as listener, so maybe, we need to stop caring about her. Not as a human being, but as a corporate snowflake.