Why Nicki Minaj’s New York Times Interview Is the Most Feminist Thing We’ve Read this Week
Nicki Minaj at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Photo: Getty
Nicki Minaj ain’t nothin’ to eff with. The rapstress spits sick bars, nuggets of truth and dismisses you with a dimpled smile after she lets you know. In short, she’s not here for the games. Minaj sat down with a writer Vanessa Grigoriadis for The New York Times magazine to talk about maintaining her image in the industry, as well as some of the controversy that surround the 32-year-old rapper.
Minaj first defended her choice of calling out Miley Cyrus onstage at MTV’s VMA’s in late August after the singer criticized Minaj in the New York Times for daring to highlight the fact that black female artists are rarely awarded for the groundbreaking work they do. After Minaj called out the MTV powers-that-be for not nominating her “Anaconda” video for Music Video of the Year, Cyrus responded with this: “If you do things with an open heart and you come at things with love, you would be heard and I would respect your statement. But I don’t respect your statement because of the anger that came with it.”
Cyrus’ words however, were no match for Minaj’s epic onstage callout, which has since been immortalized on throw pillows and mugs. According to Minaj, she felt compelled to say something when she took to the stage to accept her Best Hip-Hop Video award because, “I saw [Cyrus] just looking at me, with her face screwed up, and I thought, What the!’’ She then elaborated on why she found Cyrus’ reaction so problematic and quite frankly, hypocritical. “The fact that you feel upset about me speaking on something that affects black women makes me feel like you have some big balls,” she said. “You’re in videos with black men, and you’re bringing out black women on your stages, but you don’t want to know how black women feel about something that’s so important? Come on, you can’t want the good without the bad. 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.”
Minaj’s explanation is far more powerful than Cyrus’ weak attempt at silencing her. With the release of her Bangerz album, Cyrus attempted to rebrand herself as a “bad girl” (because blackness is just so edgy) by appropriating hip-hop culture, accessorizing with grills and her new black friends, and taking every opportunity to show off her scant twerking skills. Cyrus clearly has a fascination with black folks, but as Minaj points out here, it is thoroughly disingenuous, especially when she’s trying to shut down a black woman for drawing attention to the very real problems black women in music face. If Cyrus was such a fan of black culture, she would have no problem Minaj’s valid criticism – no matter how the rapper got her point across. Here, Minaj comprehensively shines a spotlight on the former child’s star utter lack of self-awareness, a problem plaguing the likes of Cyrus and artists like, say Iggy Azalea, who are fine with co-opting parts of black culture in the name of “expressing themselves,” but remain silent on the issues the people with whom they seem so fascinated face every day.
Photo: @nickiminaj
But the epic dragging session didn’t stop there. Minaj turned her crosshairs on Grigoriadis after she was asked an admittedly tone-deaf question about whether or not she, as an artist, is thriving off the “drama” surrounding her label mates at Cash Money records. Drama, mind you, that Minaj has absolutely nothing to do with. Lil’ Wayne is suing Cash Money co-founder Bryan Williams, aka Birdman for withholding fees. On top of that, Wayne’s tour bus was shot up in Atlanta this April.
Minaj did away with any niceties. She told Grigoriadis she was being disrespectful. And then she sensibly asked: "Why would a grown-ass woman thrive off drama?” Grigoriadis, who is known to fearlessly go there with her subjects, was taken aback. Minaj continued to blast Grigoriadis: “What do the four men you just named have to do with me thriving off drama?’ [Minaj] asked. ‘Why would you even say that? That’s so peculiar. Four grown-ass men are having issues between themselves, and you’re asking me do I thrive off drama?’ As Grigoriadis tried to do some damage control, Minaj continued: ‘That’s the typical thing that women do. What did putting me down right there do for you?’ she asked. ‘Women blame women for things that have nothing to do with them. I really want to know why — as a matter of fact, I don’t. Can we move on, do you have anything else to ask?’ the rapper continued. Until Minaj decided that the interview was over, declaring, ‘I don’t care to speak to you anymore.’”
Nicki brings up a good point: why do women assume that women thrive off other people’s drama? It does nothing but reinforce a dated stereotype and unnecessarily shame other women for behaviors that have nothing to do with them. It is not a woman’s job to clean up the problems of those around them, and it is a little cruel to assume she should take any pleasure in the fact that people she loves are fighting, as long as it draws more attention to her. Questions like that paint Minaj as an evil sorority queen whose life is sustained by the suffering of others – and it’s unfair.
Photo: @Nickiminaj
Besides clapping back at poor Grigoriadis, Minaj also showed us that in spite of the criticism she’s faced for speaking out about her VMA, she might actually be one of the women in pop culture who isn’t latching on to the feminist trend in order to increase their exposure. Consider her thoughts on young women having children: “We got so many girls right now having children and don’t even know the first thing to say to a child, but you’re having a child because ‘I want to keep this dude,’ or it just happened,’ she explains on her second album. ‘Why are we never in control? Why are we stuck with a baby? Why are we always stuck on the welfare line? Why are we always stuck having to beg, borrow and steal to provide for our children?”
Sure, lamenting the loss of a VMA nomination is a decidedly first world, celebrity problem. But being left down and out with a baby? That’s a situation many more women can relate to. While Taylor Swift is being heralded as a business-savvy feminist icon and Beyoncé is being praised for her girl power messaging, Nicki Minaj is here talking about women’s issues affecting a segment of the population that doesn’t have millions of dollars, endorsements and a record contract. This is not to say that our feminist pop icons are just total fakes. However, it is refreshing to see a woman who is not only unfazed by tone-policing when she’s making valid points, but also takes time to talk about feminism in a way that specifically relates to women less privileged than she is.
Nicki is clearly a woman who knows herself and will not apologize for making people feel comfortable. In Nicki’s world, being a feminist means never having to say you’re sorry, and that’s something we can totally get on board with.
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