My topic that I’m going to write about is the importance of Nicki Minaj in pop culture, not just her talent as a rapper, but her feminist, unapologetic role in pop culture. A lot of people see Nicki as a mainstream female rap artist with a big butt, but she has a lot more to offer than just ‘vulgar’ lyrics and sexy music videos. She has always spoke what is on her mind, and I feel that females sometimes are afraid to speak about their sexual desires and needs for the fear that men might call them a ‘slut’, ‘bitch’, ‘whore’, etc. However, Nicki is an activist for women to speak their mind, whether it comes to politics, sexual needs or desires, respect as a woman, body image, etc. She is very unapologetic in the fact that she’s not afraid to say what she wants, and damn sure demands the respects she deserves not only as ‘Rap’s Reigning Queen’ but as woman. In an MTV special where they followed Nicki, she was highly upset at the fact that when she goes on set and puts her foot down and demands the respect and professionalism that a man would, she is referred to as a ‘bitch’, but when a man, in particular, Lil Wayne, her label cohort and mentor, he is labeled as a ‘boss’ or ‘bossed up’. In the meaning behind ‘bitch’ there’s a lot of negative connotation, but there’s a lot of positive connotation behind the terms ‘boss’ or ‘bossed up’. She also goes into explaining that if she was offered pickle juice to drink and settled for pickle juice, she would be drinking pickle juice instead of something more desirable to drink. In one interview for Hot 97, she spoke to her fans and told the women in the audience “Stop feeling like you shouldn’t speak your mind because somebody’s going to call you a bitch.” I think that this confidence and reassurance she gives her fans because she is a huge, hip-hop mogul, that whenever she drops music or an interview or a verse she breaks the internet. There is a study that shows a 172% increase in streams and sales when Nicki Minaj is featured on the song. She is an A-list celebrity and to have someone who is on that scale of popularity to relate to it makes it easier to act this way. Especially when she is a female who works in an industry that is MALE dominated and does it better than half of men that partake in the same field of work she does. She’s empowering. She’s an icon. She’s a Queen. She’s a feminist.
Sep 142016