Bringing You Up To Speed: Nicki Minaj

Aligning herself with two of the biggest names in the south, Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane, this unsigned Southside Jamaica Queens MC has done a great job putting herself on hip hop fan’s radar.  Now she is on a mission to prove to the hip hop world that she has reached her current position due to her hustle and skills rather than her sex appeal.

This new mission is being embraced by fans of her music, but questioned by the general hip hop community who until recently had just written her off as another attractive woman in hip hop who just happened to get on tracks with Gucci Mane and Weezy because of her looks/promiscuousness.

In a recent interview with Vlad TV, Nicki stated that she is going to start moving away from this sexual image in an effort to focus more on the music:

The side of Nicki Minaj that thrives on the track without being completely promiscuous, has always been present  throughout her mixtape career.  It was just too often overlooked. For example, Nicki’s track, “Click Clack” off of her debut mixtape, Playtime is Over, helped her to make a name for herself  and led to her current affiliation with Lil Wayne whom after seeing her video for the record on The Come Up DVD contacted Nicki for collaborations and to talk about joining Young Money.

This affiliation between Weezy and Nicki Minaj grew over time, as Lil Wayne hosted her sophomore mixtape entitled, Sucka Free. A track off of Sucka Free that showcases Nicki’s ability to spit is the reflective song, “Autobiography.”

On “Autobiography,” Nicki Minaj gets serious and talks about her mother with the line, “She saw something in me that, until this day I don’t know if I could be that.”   She also speaks about her father who burnt down their house with her mother inside, when she spits:

“Nightmares of you killing my mother,
The reason that I sleep with my head under the covers,
And they should of thrown a book at you,
Cause I hate you so much that it burn when I look at you.”

On the second verse, she speaks about a relationship that ended because of how she treated her boyfriend saying,

“So why I hurt you that’s the question,
It took this long for me to learn my lesson,
Cause now all I want is peace and get drama,
I finally understand the true meaning of karma”

On the final verse she speaks about aborting her child and gets deep with:

“I can feel you in the air,
I hear you sayin mommy don’t cry can’t you see I’m right here,
I gotta let you know what you mean to me,
When I’m sleeping I see you in my dreams with me,
Wish I could touch your little face or just hold your little hand,
If it’s part of gods plan maybe we can met again.”

Those verses and the smooth reflective hook on that track are unlike all of Nicki Minaj’s other songs on the mixtape, offering us a side a Nicki that we rarely see.  Hopefully this side of Nicki’s talent can be further developed on her much anticipated major label debut album.  (As she hinted it would be with her Vlad TV interview)

Other standout tracks on Sucka Free that showcase the more widely known Nicki Minaj style are: Sunshine, Curious George, Doin it Well, Sweetest Girl, Dead Wrong, and Long Time Coming, which can all be heard below:

Nicki’s latest mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty hosted by DJ Holiday, has been well received by DJ’s and fans everywhere. And once again, Nicki put one track on the mixtape that featured her serious side, “Still I Rise.” You may recognize this track from Lil Wayne’s Dedication 3 (it was featured on the mixtape):

With this track, Nicki spits from the point of view of her haters,  touching on the rumors that have been going around as well as unclear aspects of her nationality, sexuality, relationship with Lil Wayne, and similarity to Lil Kim. Nicki does a great job acting like a hater with lines such as:

“Every time she do a interview you know I run to see,
She get me so sick it make me vomit,
That’s why I spend my time online leaving comments,
And you know that I got sum more haters with me,
Might hit up thisis50, MTV, hit up BET,
Tell ‘em pretty pretty please don’t play Nicki.”

On the second verse she addresses her haters and tries to explain that her success in the music industry has a lot to do with whether or not more female rappers will get a chance to shine. She has often spoken about how she is not only trying to succeed for herself, but also trying to help bring back relevant female MC’s.

“They don’t understand these labels look at numbers and statistics,
I lose, u lose, mine’s just logistics,
Anyway, real bitches listen when I’m speaking,
Cause if Nicki win, then all of ya’ll getting meetings.”

Now Just so you don’t get the wrong impression of Nicki Minaj, you should take a listen to her track “Kill Da DJ,” from the Beam Me Up Scotty mixtapes which features more of her usual style:

As you can tell from “Kill Da DJ,” Nicki can get down on a track with her New York/British Accent and tear up the southern clubs.  Her style is a great compliment to the southern flows of Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, and OJ Da Juiceman, which is partly why she collaborates with these artists on a regular basis.  Another reason for the collaborations is that Gucci Mane, OJ Da Juiceman, and Nicki Minaj all share the same manager, Debra Antney of Mizay Entertainment.

Other stand out tracks on Beam Me Up Scotty are: I Get Crazy, Itty Bitty Piggy, Slumber Party (featuring Gucci Mane), Go Hard, Handstand, Easy, and Can Anybody Hear Me, which can all be heard below:

Currently Nicki Minaj is touring on the America’s Most Wanted Music Festival, and replacing Drake who had to leave the tour due to an ACL injury.  This exposure is great for her career, and she has stated that being on the road with Lil Wayne is good for her work ethic.  (Nicki Minaj often refers to herself as Ninja Nicki with Weezy being her sensei.)

Whether she’s calling herself a ninja, Nicki Lewinsky, or a harajuku barbie, no one can deny that this unsigned artist who has been featured in major hip hop publications, won female artist of the year at the Underground Music Awards in 2008, and is currently on tour with Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, and Soulja Boy is well on her way to bringing female artists back!