Your favorite Babymama’s take on Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj is a genius! Some people agree. Some people don’t. Fact is she has thousands of confused and lost little girls like the one in this video, at her fingertips. While most of her fans are probably between the ages of 16 and 23, you better believe there is an astounding amount of middle-school girls, and mothers with their middle-school aged kids screaming, “It’s Barbie, bitch!” . She glorifies materialistic ideals, advocates a stereotypical yet unattainable body image, perpetuates the objectification of women by “signing them tig ol bitties”, promotes the type of self-hatred that radiates outward to demean and belittle “the competition”. But Nicki Minaj is probably most known for painting pornographic images with her lyrics as she raps about sex with men, sex with women, and sex with multiples at the same time. Hence the monicker “Nicki Minaj”.

The fact of the matter is I love to hate her but I really can’t hate her. I can hate what she represents but I can’t hate her for representing them. I love her for it. These ideas, issues, and topics exist in the hearts and minds of our youth and Nicki Minaj is giving these girls a voice, however animated, immature, and dumb it may sound. If girls are living vicariously through her by emulating everything she talks about, to how she talks about it, they’re living misguided lives. That’s what we need to address. I didn’t know before the whole “Nicki Minaj craze” that there are so many girls in so many places without real thoughts in their heads. She opened my eyes and hopefully she has some important people’s pupils’ burning. By “important” I mean, people in positions to help make lasting changes in these lost girls’ lives and to prevent the loss of more girls.

Since the late 50s Barbie has been the ultimate symbol of girl-hood. That’s really where I was going with the whole “Nicki Minaj is a genius” thing. She took an ultimate symbol and marketed herself as that. Think about it. Every girl and woman that you have a close relationship has had Barbie as a part of their lives in some way, and every man has had their “masculinity” attacked at some point with the idea that he has at some point, played with a Barbie.

For many girls it was and continues to be the first representation of what she should ultimately aspire to be in terms of looks if nothing else. It’s not shocking that girls are going a long way to emulate something they’ve been told their whole lives they should aspire to be. Think about it. For that, I can say there is definitely some genius behind the craft of Nicki Minaj. She’s not the first or last to use the idea of the Barbie to sell herself because it’s a great idea to use. She’s taken it to a new level by not just using it but claiming to be it.

I tend to err on the side that it is the job of the artist and entertainer to do exactly that and nothing more unless they say and demonstrate otherwise. As far as I know, all Nicki Minaj does is create art (whether you agree or not) and entertain. I’ve not heard her say she intends on doing anything else but get money. She’s doing that. Maybe she’s targeting youth with adult content, and maybe that’s immoral. But if that’s what sells, that’s her job. It’s not her job to be a role model for how a girl should think about and live an everyday life because that’s not what she’s doing and last I checked, she doesn’t have kids. Mothers, it’s especially our job. That’s what we’re doing and as role models we all fall short at times.

While I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to don my “importance” to it’s full extent yet, I know I’m starting with Karma. I am her first role model. That’s my first job and yes, sometimes, I fall short. “Barbie” is a part of Karma’s vocabulary and I’m positive she knows Nicki Minaj when she sees her (not by name) and I’d be dumb to think that she hasn’t already linked her with “Barbie”. I don’t always turn the station or channel when she comes on. I don’t know if that’s right or wrong but Nicki Minaj is everywhere and I’m not. I’m practicing how to address things that I’d love to shield her from but won’t be able to. In my experience it’s a lot harder to address things that you pretend don’t happen.

The problem is too many mothers don’t make being a role model their first job and that’s a bigger fall. We need to address certain issues within ourselves so that we can be better role models because clearly the big fall has rendered us unconscious.

Advertisement