Her name instantly makes you think about sex. Minaj, pronounced ‘ménage’ leads you to believe that everything springing forth from her is titillating and sex tinged with the goal of causing men to lose blood flow to their brains. We judge her just on that alone. We think, ‘Oh, God. Not another one’. Not another what? Not another woman using her sexuality to make money. Not another Karrin Stephens or Lil Kim. Please, not another one. But when you open the book to read it instead of judging it from its cover, you discover that she is not any of those things at all.
The first time I ever heard Nicki Minaj rap was on a BET Hip Hop Cypher. I was instantly impressed. Nicki had “flow” and for those of you 30+ like me, you know what I mean. She was lyrically supreme and stood out from the guys around her. The next time I heard and saw her was in a video for one of the many collaborations she did with Young Money and Lil Wayne. I then thought, “Who is that? Is that the same chick?” She was the same chick. She was just marketing herself. And market herself, she did.
I haven’t always agreed with the things Nicki Minaj has done, specifically when she encouraged young women to Tweet Pic pictures of themselves on Twitter exposing their breasts; but as an erotic fiction writer who poses for her own book covers and pictures naked, I can’t judge anyone else. But it’s what I admire about her most that makes me say “I ain’t mad at her”. I admire that Nicki Minaj has been a trending topic on Twitter for a gazillion days. I admire that she’s on everyone’s albums and that she’s highly sought after to appear with already established artists on their projects. I also admire that she has figured out the formula. The formula is what separates you from the rest. It’s what defines you, garners attention from others and establishes your place in entertainment. Nicki Minaj first developed her alter egos so that she could
