By @ArionArmeniakos
A scuffle with Cardi B and failure to secure the top spot in the charts with her new album has had Nicki Minaj express her outrage in all the wrong ways and all of the wrong places. Is she right to throw out sexism accusations and dish out the blame on others? Or is she struggling to accept the fact that maybe her album just wasn’t as good as she expected?
Nicki Minaj is not losing because the industry is working against her, but because the hip-hop culture is changing, and whether we like it or not, the trademark rappers such as Nicki Minaj may struggle to stay relevant if they fail to adapt to the direction in which the hip hop industry is heading. That, and a series of bad decisions has Nicki Minaj on the receiving end of a downpour of criticism from the social media world.
To sum it up, Minaj experienced a sloppy rollout of her new album “Queen” that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, behind Travis Scott’s “Astroworld” which was set for its second week on the summit.
Minaj then accused Travis Scott of “cheating” during a lengthy Twitter rant, as the Houston artist used bundle packages along with the help of his influential partner Kylie Jenner to promote and boost the sales of his new album.
She did that without considering the fact that in today’s day and age you have to use all of your weapons to get ahead.
For example, Kanye West, who upon the release of his new album in June, went on a number of controversial Twitter rants in order to attract the attention of the public eye. As a result, he will most likely boost the sales of his newest project.
Scott using the help of Kylie Jenner and additional products to boost his numbers is just a clever business move and not cheating the market.
During her Twitter rant last month, Minaj blamed Spotify for releasing her album later than scheduled after Spotify allegedly said it was “punishment” for Minaj making the “Queen” release an Apple Music exclusive.
Spotify denied those claims, in an official statement, saying that they gave Minaj fair promotion of her album “with a Times Square billboard, a host of the largest playlists, New Music Friday, and the new music release shelf.” They added that her single, “Bed,” had more streams after their promotions began. They stated also that Spotify “continues to be big fans of Nicki.”
During her Twitter antics, Minaj also accused the media of being sexist and inconsistent as they criticized her for the recent collaboration with the controversial artist 6ix9ine after making a song with the New York rapper. To add insult to injury, her VMA performance with 6ix9ine was cancelled because of the accusations against him.
In reality though, every other artist that has a major media presence would have received the same backlash for collaborating with someone who is a hot controversial topic. The backlash was not because Minaj is a woman.
Upon the release of her new album, Minaj was also involved in a bust up with Cardi B during the New York Fashion Week, according to reports from TMZ. After months of indirect shots fired at each other across several songs, the two rulers of the female rap game finally collided and created a lot of bad press for each other.
Perhaps Minaj’s way of getting her name out there before her album release wasn’t the most effective promotional move. As a result of that, it now appears as if she struggled to come to terms with the fact that her album didn’t manage to secure the number one spot on the charts and instead of going back to the drawing board, she’s throwing tantrums left and right.
Now, as she is publicly throwing her toys out of the playpen, the media is ready to pounce and tear her piece by piece. Just as they would for any artist that throws a tantrum.
Kanye West received major criticism from the media and fellow celebrities after his controversial Twitter antics prior to the debut of his newest album earlier this year. The media has also contributed to 6ix9ine’s situation, causing him to be banned at events all across America due to his controversial image.
Minaj then continued to self-proclaim herself as the queen and one of the best artists of all time, even though “Queen” debuted at No. 2. She then continued calling out other artists and blamed everyone for the underachievement of her album. This didn’t sit well with the media and the masses, so they went to work.
Minaj created a bad image through her actions and social media outbursts and subsequently received the same backlash that any other artist would have gotten.
If you look at the charts of the most popular music streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, it is evident that today the masses prefer easy-on-the-ear beats and catchy choruses over deep lyrical songs.
Whether hardcore hip hop fans like it or not, this genre of music has become mainstream and modernized, advancing to the era of trap and leaving the lyric fanatics behind.
Artists like 6ix9ine and Lil Pump have burst onto the scene and crashed on top of the charts by creating music that’s simple and contagious and not deeply personal and lyrical. Perhaps that’s another reason why Scott’s came out on top, contrary to Minaj’s “Queen”. Even though her album is very personal, it may be too lyrical and not catchy enough to land at the top of the rankings.
Nicki Minaj could be the first of many examples of how artists today will have to either adapt to the direction in which the hip hop culture is heading or prepare to stay out of the headlines as a new generation of artists takes over. Catchy lyrics and contagious beats are the new direction in which modern hip hop is heading and seasoned artists will have to work with the system in order to stay on top.
