So let me start this article by stating my positions and bias.
1) I am not a Nicki Minaj avid fan, I highly doubt I am in the demographic of the expected consumer of her artwork and brand, but I have enjoyed a few songs.
2) I am soft on the fact that she is of Trinidad and by extension Trinbagonian decent. While I may not be an absolute fan of her music, I am a fan of what she represents on the world stage, much like how I cheer on Rihanna and Serena professionally regardless of their personal life. The realm of being the top of anything is hard and fraught with pitfalls and I can imagine being a woman brings, unfairly, further complication to the matter in a competitive “Dog eat dog” world.
3) Most of the time I am not so invested in stars, that their personal world perspectives brings me such disgust that I find it mandatory that I actively boycott them.
4) I accept female sexual liberation but, I am not a fan of being berated by it. At this stage it maybe fair because us men talk all kinds of crazy about women, so it’s only proper turnabout that they rib us back.
5) I am bridged between late 90s hip hop and the modern era. Many “Old Heads” would find certain songs in my playlists appalling given that they know, I know, “real” Hip Hop. However, I am at the stage in life where this is purely entertainment for me and if it’s good or catchy to me, I am down.
Nicki Minaj was introduced musically to me when she first entered the scene by one of my good friends. At the time I dismissed her despite her being proficient in rapping I could already tell that she was not my particular flavour, but I saw that she could be a rising star, in her timeline based on the interviews I have seen my first viewing would have been during her time with Big Fendi, but it was definitely before the conspicuous Lil’ Kim like poster she did to promote her work, so basically that is a brief synopsis of my head-space.
So back to the first question, Is Nicki the Queen?….. Queen of what? Any reasonable person may ask them I would say the “Queen of Hip Hop” the full title is implied by her profession, her brand and main genre of music. Here is where the waters get muddied Art and Entertainment is transient in nature or more specifically in their impact, popularity and relevance. A work of art can be nothing but a murmur today and then becomes indispensable tomorrow or vice versa, which in most cases is even more remorseful, and it is in this the importance of being recognized for future generations becomes even more important, especially after your economic needs and wants are mostly met. So the real rub is what we are analysing is Nicki’s musical legacy and its importance overall.
In music today there are quantitative facts (Billboard chart numbers, album sales, streaming sales etc.) and then qualitative opinions (Barber Shop talk, Critics, Industry and Taste-makers viewpoints). The first is easy….for the most part, market and counting manipulations aside, the second is not so straight forward, but where these two are in agreement the choice is easy. However, where one is extreme of the other, this is where the arguments become interesting. Ideally, to any person titled King or Queen of any genre of music, these two factors should correlate and be overwhelmingly positive. Even more interesting is when an aspirant shows and has sway over an ever-increasing public mass, the dominance of the throne than becomes threatened.
So given this premise that I have laid out I will now make some proclamations Nicki Minaj is presently the Queen of Hip Hop she began her professional career around 2004 but her “aspirant period” began in 2008 and culminated with her taking her place on the throne deposing Lil Kim as the sitting Queen around 2010. I am not going to bog you down with the quantitative facts but her weapon, the album “Pink Friday” dominated and cleared her a path through the qualitative opinions which then echoed in critical mass that “Nicki Minaj is the new Queen of Hip Hop”.
During her reign, as any new monarch realizes that getting the throne is one thing, but keeping it is another and for the most part she managed to quell any rebellions and scandals to her rule however a few dogged her, but she managed and maintain. Enter Cardi B a rising star in 2015 and for the most part not a serious threat till 2017 when her aspirant status was cemented with the hit single “Bodak Yellow” then solidifying her agency for the throne with her 2018 debut album “Invasion of Privacy” that garnered the quantitative numbers to back it. Normally aspirations of taking the throne are often inborn to the aspirant however in this sense I think qualitative opinions as well as the actions of the sitting queen has thrusted Cardi B into a situation where she has to fight the present queen for survival while a sizable mass of favour is behind her pushing her to do so.
It is that little fact that I think is important it seems as if a Velvet Revolution was afoot to depose Nicki and install Cardi B, From the sitting Monarchs’ viewpoint she must maintain her empire and her enemies many. Cardi B willingly or unwillingly has courted the masses and is a threat!
Now, how is this all going to end! If real world history is any measure the two factions can decided a cease fire and enter a truce divvying up the lands and walking away for now hopefully never to lock horns again maybe becoming allies in the future, or the aspirant can capitulate to the Monarch to suffer their fate accordingly, or the present Monarch is deposed and the aspirant now becomes the new sitting Monarch.
So what is the real issue here? Nicki has a new and viable threat to her being the present sitting Queen, her legacy in hip hop is cemented and relevant. That much cannot be stripped from her but at the end of the day it is good to reign supreme, at this point it feels as if her 2018 album “Queen” was meant to repel any direct threat to her throne and quell or even crush the aspirant’s album “Invasion of Privacy”. What has spun out before, between and post Cardi B’s debut Album and Nicki’s’ fourth studio album is quite interesting, and the devil is in the details with album push backs, pressure, comments, drama, important people etc? But at the end of the day, the “Queen” Album did not do what it was expected to do, which now shows Nicki’s vulnerability.
In reality, it is not as dramatic as it is made out to be, both of these women are successful and will live lives that most will never attain, both will continue to have careers and financial success beyond the average person barring any major pitfalls or poor decisions. But again this is about Legacy and Ego to ensure that the empire reigns and expands under the sovereigns watch. No one competing at any high level settles for number two.
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