In light of the Lena Dunham controversy – which have some claiming hypocrisy in the entire feminist movement – it’s important to remember that Dunham doesn’t speak for feminism as a whole; there are plenty of other celebrities (and regular people!) who have championed the cause. My personal hero is Nicki Minaj, and here’s why:
1. Her success (aka “and if she’s fake, she ain’t notice cause her money ain’t”)
Nicki Minaj walked into the male-dominated rap sphere and immediately dropped one of the most killer verses of all time in Kanye West’s Monster, which Rick Ross hailed as a “moment in history.” She made more money in that one verse – before she had even dropped an album! – than I will probably make in a year for way too long after I graduate, and of course she didn’t stop there. She’s the most-charted female rapper on the Billboard Hot 100, which includes seven singles charting simultaneously after Pink Friday debuted. We most certainly have been watching the queen conquer.
2. She’s a boss
Full quote, no comment necessary: “When I am assertive, I’m a bitch. When a man is assertive, he’s a boss. He [is] bossed up. No negative connotation behind ‘bossed up.’ But lots of negative connotation behind being a bitch. Donald Trump can say, ‘You’re fired.’ Let Martha Stewart run her company the same way and be the same way. [People will say] ‘f**king old evil bitch!’ But Donald Trump, he gets to hang out with young bitches and have 50 different wives and just be cool. ‘Oh, Donald, we love you, Donald Trump!’ … When you’re a girl, you have to be everything. You have to be dope at what you do but you have to be super sweet and you have to be sexy and you have to be this, you have to be that, and you have to be nice. It’s like, ‘I can’t be all those things at once. I’m a human being.’”
3. She’s not afraid of the color pink.
Remember “Real Men Wear Pink?” Nicki will do you one better. She flips the boy-girl/blue-pink dichotomy on its head by tracking her pink trails (and her pink hair, pink album covers, pink workout clothes, pink weights, pink smoothie-like liquid that she pours over herself in the SuperBass video) all over the rap scene. As Gabby Bess put it, she “wears pink to assert her femininity in male spaces.” And importantly, it doesn’t make anyone feel differently about her music, nor does it turn her from a rapper into a sugary pop star. She proves time and again that her attachment to her femininity doesn’t make her any less talented or any less deserving of respect among the macho men who run the hip-hop industry. She made me rethink why I don’t like pink – and now I kind of hope they stop manufacturing the color blue altogether.
4. Her feminism is intersectional with both gender identity and race.
Here, have an interview in which Nicki teaches a much-needed lesson to a cisnormative radio host:
In the same interview, she later said: “I never put a limit on myself, and I don’t like when especially black women put a limit on what they can do. You should be able to try whatever the hell you want to try, as long as you’re keeping your integrity.”
5. She’s hotter than a Middle Eastern climate – and she knows it, which is great.
Okay, I’ll stop quoting Monster now (maybe). But not only has Nicki broken into a male-dominated sphere, she’s also going to unapologetically celebrate her body and her sexuality in a very skinny-centric world (which she publically called out after backlash for her cover art). Anaconda especially is a catchy anthem celebrating curvy women – though, of course, it isn’t free from criticism of its own. But with her summer hit, she turns female sexuality from an object into a tool of empowerment; sure, she’ll reel you into the kitchen with a provocative dance, but don’t forget that she’s also the one holding the knife.
It’s no question that it’s Nicki’s body and she’s going to enjoy it (and not let Drake enjoy it) as much as she wants. Now I’m just waiting for the Barnard gym to let me in with my Anaconda outfit.