I heart Nicki Minaj. Her verses on Yo Gotti’s “Down in the DM” give me life. It’s like she rapped my thoughts when she said “cause 99.9%, of these fuckboys can’t fuck me.” Nicki speaks to the 2016 fly girls who are unapologetically bad. She speaks sex and entrepreneurship. She boasts about material things and love. She raps about the value in exclusivity and ambition. “But my pussy so exclusive, limited edition. You know niggas love pretty bitches with ambition,” Nicki spits on Fabolous’ “Doin It Well.”
Nicki Minaj is the rapper for the Lil’ Kim fans who grew up. Lil’ Kim’s first album, Hard Corewas raunchy and I had no business listening to it when it was released in 1996. I will forever agree with Kim’s stance that if “you ain’t lickin’ this, you ain’t stickin’ this.” But what happened when a Hip Hop and Lil’ Kim fan grows up?
I like braggadocious rhymes. I like rapping like I’m the baddest to have ever done it. But Kim failed me as a fan. I loved Hard Core, of course as well asThe Notorious K.I.M and La Bella Mafia. In 2005 Kim released her fourth album, The Naked Truthwhich debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and sold 109,000 copies in its first week. The album was released as Kim was serving a year long federal prison sentence for three counts of conspiracy and one count of perjury for lying to a Federal grand jury about her and her friends’ involvement in a 2001 shooting outside the Hot 97 studios in Manhattan, New York.
While Kim was in jail and even after her release, there was a huge void readymade for Nicki Minaj. Where was a Kim fan to turn when Kim wasn’t making any music? It’s really a question of where did all the female rappers go? According to Ana DuVernay, who directed the 2010 documentaryMy Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women in Hip Hop, in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were more than 40 women signed to major labels. In 2010 there were just three.
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While Lil’ Kim was silenced, I yearned for a dope female emcee who I could relate to. I like my female rappers street and sexy because it’s possible to be both which is why I can’t get jiggy with Angel Haze, Siya or Gifted Gab. Trina is sexy without skill and Shawnna just couldn’t take off under DTP. Jean Grae is cool but not my particular taste. Iggy Azalea is a non-Hip Hop factor and Azealia Banks is way too hipster for my liking.
Lil’ Kim Versus Nicki Minaj
But was I supposed to eagerly accept Ms. Minaj when she initially looked like a Lil’ Kim knock-off? At the beginning of Nicki’s career, she was blatantly copying Kim’s formula of rapper and video vixen, which led to the arguably inevitable Nicki versus Kim beef. “The problem with her is, she was very catty with it,” Kim said of Nicki in 2012. “But from the moment that I met her, I was always cool with her. But after that, it almost seems like, when they realized, ‘OK, we need Kim. We want to study her swag.’ That’s what it kind of felt like because I was around for a long time.”
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And as someone who grew up listening to Kim and seeing the first fusion of sexy and street, I sided with Kim. Though, I couldn’t deny Nicki’s verse on Kanye West’s “Monster.” It went harder than Hov’s. But “yeah, my money’s so tall that my Barbiez got to climb it,” was a dig at Kim (as far as I was concerned) that left me screw faced. When “Monster” came out, Nicki was still the new kid on the block and Kim was still the “Black Barbie.”
Plus, I couldn’t call Nicki the new “Queen” when she was releasing “Super Bass” and “Starships.” I even agreed with Peter Rosenberg of Hot 97 when he said “Starships” is “the most sellout song in Hip Hop history.” At that moment, Nicki went so far pop that I definitely couldn’t crown her as next. Since then, Nicki’s career has gone global. And surprisingly, The Pinkprint is the female rap album I’ve needed in my life.
I had to ask myself whether female rappers can age in the rap game? Between Kim’s jail time and motherhood, it’s been a conflicting period for an aging Kim fan. Kim’s music post The Naked Truth has been mediocre. Kim’s 2011 Black Fridaymixtape played as a reminder of who Lil’ Kim once was, sure, but even with features from Jadakiss, Yo Gotti and Cassidy Hard Core 2K14 was unsalvageable. Kim’s most recent track, a remix to Desiigner’s “Panda” featuring Maino is solid but I miss the Kim that didn’t do trends because she created her own lane.
Nicki arrived with nearly no competition and continues to dominate. She was able to crossover and come back and because of that I can no longer deny Nicki’s talent or staying power. With Kim’s lack of material and penchant for delivering wack mixtapes, unfortunately, Kim’s reign as “Queen” has been over for years. Lil’ Kim will always have a soft spot in my Hip Hop heart. She definitely set the stage for Nicki Minaj. It’s Women’s History Month and I’m woman enough to admit that while it’s hard to see a legend fall, I will never deny another woman’s hard work and talent. In life, the princess inevitably becomes the Queen.
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Carla Thomas ia a Los Angeles-based writer, stylist and content creator. Visit her website, MadStyleAndGrace.com.
