The outspoken rapper isn't given enough credit for the solid politics behind many of her comments.
The outspoken rapper isn't given enough credit for the solid politics behind many of her comments.
"Four grown-ass men are having issues between themselves, and you're asking me do I thrive off drama?"
When Nicki Minaj has something to say, she doesn't hold back.
The above quote was in response to New York Times journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis questioning whether she thrived off drama or "pain and unpleasantness."
The rapper took offence to the idea that she might somehow enjoy the ongoing beef between her boyfriend, rapper Meek Mills and her friend and labelmate Drake, and Lil Wayne and Bryan Williams, known by his stage name Birdman.
Minaj is signed with Wayne's label, Young Money, which is part of Birdman's label Cash Money, but the two are currently embroiled in a bitter legal dispute tinged with violence.
Understandably, Minaj found the inference that this might be fun for her "disrespectful."
"Why would a grown-ass woman thrive off drama," she asked.
Nicki Minaj isn't given enough credit for her opinions and willingness to back herself.
The pop superstar's candid and often irritated responses to clueless comments often see her branded as a troublemaker; someone who is, in the words of Miley Cyus "not too kind. Not too polite."
The truth of it though is that Nicki Minaj has a finely tuned bullshit detector and the self-confidence to speak her mind.
She is not given nearly enough credit for the solid politics informing her comments, which are often reduced to "feuds" or "rants" in the media.
For example, her so-called feud with pop star Taylor Swift earlier this year was actually a comment on the racist and sexist nature of the music industry.
I'm not always confident. Just tired. Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it. https://t.co/2xOvJzBXJX
Minaj never attacked Swift and the two quickly and publicly settled things on Twitter, but the "angry black lady" stereotype dogged Minaj anyway, as evidenced by Cyrus' complaint Minaj didn't talk about racism in a polite way.
In the same interview, Minaj pointed out that Cyrus cannot have things both ways: "If you want to enjoy our culture and our lifestyle, bond with us, dance with us, have fun with us, twerk with us, rap with us, then you should also want to know what affects us, what is bothering us, what we feel is unfair to us. You shouldn't not want to know that," she said.
Minaj also offered some sound feminist analysis regarding Grigoriadis' question about Mills, Drake, Wayne and Birdman.
"To put down a woman for something that men do, as if they're children and I'm responsible, has nothing to do with you asking stupid questions, because you know that's not just a stupid question," Minaj told Grigoriadis.
She's right; women are often tasked with keeping men in line or taming them. Of somehow taking responsibility when they behave badly, which is insulting to both men and women.
"Do not speak to me like I'm stupid or beneath you in any way," Minaj then said, before telling Grigoriadis the interview was over because she was done talking to her.
Minaj has the guts to back herself and refuses to water down her opinions and she deserves more admiration for that than she's currently getting.
