In her recent interview with Tri-State area radio morning show "The Breakfast Club", Queens, New York rapper Nicki Minaj stated that hip-hop was not "female friendly".
"I can't really speak for anybody's grind or how pop culture receives people. I'm not surprised because even when I was grinding and putting out tapes and stuff like that, it was hard for me. It takes a lot of work. It doesn't just happen overnight. It's not a female-friendly business. Hip Hop is not female friendly at all."
This statement is true indeed, the hip-hop community and culture has had a history of playing double standards and overall underappreciating women in hip-hop that I even discussed in my blogpost "You Can't Rap With Us!" Sexism In Hip-Hop. However, this is the same conversation Minaj has had before. I even recall her stating how female rappers should stick together during her beef with Lil' Kim in 2010. The authority should not be put all on her, but my question is as a female rapper who is hot right now and has power, what can you do about the issue to change the dynamics? Is Nicki going to bring out some female rappers on some "Ladies Night" type songs if this is such a concern of hers? Since she has been mainstream and even during her mixtape days, I haven't heard of Nicki doing any major mainstream songs with new or old female rappers as much as she has done with male rappers. Only with the exception of Trina ("5 Star Chick" which was just a feature, and a song on Trina's 2010 album which didn't make mainstream radio) and bringing Foxy Brown on stage for a summer concert in 2011 (which in my opinion was due to her beefing with Lil' Kim. You know how people team up when they have a common enemy? Right).
During the late 2000’s era if not even earlier, the female rapper/emcee era began to decline. Popular artists like Lil’ Kim, Da Brat, Remy Ma, and Foxy Brown were imprisoned, female artists began venturing into other projects, fans began to forget about many of them who had reigned in the 19990’s, and record companies just weren't signing women in hip-hop anymore. Just in general, female rappers were not making as much noise as they were during the 1980’s and 19990’s. As the only female rapper in the game that's relevant at the moment, Nicki has a platform to do so much for the female rap/hip-hop community, but not she's even using it. Hey, maybe there's some behind the scenes things we don't know about. She did state that she has "given amazing opportunities to [people], who continue to bite the hand that fed them" in regards to her new song "Pills N Potions" (which I happen to dig). Perhaps she had gave some opportunities to help fellow female rappers and the deals didn't go through.
Her comment caused me to ponder if she was just stating that because she personally felt underappreciated in the hip-hop community, or because she legit feels that across the board the hip-hop community doesn’t appreciate female rappers the way it should. In many ways, I think Ms. Minaj dug her own grave when she first came out on the scene with the bi-sexual, and “Barbie” gimmick, the Roman antics, and her beef with Lil’ Kim. Even recently, controversy and side-eyeing has been continuous with the Malcolm X "Looking Ass Niggas" cover and the "Chiraq" song. Many people in the hardcore hip-hop community don’t take her seriously and refer to her style of music as "hip-pop" due to her repetitive nature of doing mainstream party songs, rapping simplistic lyrics, and trap/pop music-styled beats. I do think her career history and discography could also be factors affiliated to her feelings of hip-hop not being "female friendly".
Maybe in the future she will do some songs with female artists like Iggy, Azealia Banks, etc, only time will tell. Maybe in general we'll see newer mainstream female artists collab with one another, because this isn't just a thing that Nicki is doing by herself. It is not her responsibility to bring out female rappers and she's not obligated to do songs with other female rappers, but if hip-hop needs to be more female friendly as she stated, why not do some collaborations with female rappers to make a statement and create a new movement? Why not go on a tour with other female rappers new and old? Just some logical suggestions.
As for now, I personally think Nicki enjoys being the only super-relevant and poppin' female rapper out and does not want to share the stage with anyone else contrary to her comments on "doing it for the women" and supposed concern of fellow females in hip-hop. Perhaps she's intimidated another female rapper will steal her shine on a track. It's her prerogative if she does feel that way, but seeing how the music industry disposes artists once they reach a certain age, eventually her time as a the "it-girl" female rapper will be up and another female rapper will have her time. This is especially prevalent in hip-hop/rap once someone more marketable is discovered. In general, instead of having a limited "time to shine", everyone should be able to stand together and go down into history as female rappers and emcees did in the 1990's. I think that type of unity causes a greater historical and cultural impact, but this definitely isn't the 1990's anymore and the entertainment industry seems to be operating where only one person can shine at a time. Just my thoughts.
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