Onika Tanya Maraj, (AKA Nicki Minaj) is an American rapper, songwriter and actress. She was born on December 8th 1982 in Trinidad and Tobago and was raised in Jamaica and New York. Nicki performs within the Hip-Hop, R&B and Pop genres, but also lending herself to the electronic genre, was first noted by international audiences after releasing a series of mixtapes between 2007-2009. In April 2013 she was the most-charted female rapper in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, with 44 appearances. Nicknamed the “black Lady Gaga”, Nicki Minaj relies on her image and costumes to make statements, embracing them within her music videos especially. Nicki has become a fashion icon within her own right and she advertises her lines on her website http://mypinkfriday.com/ .
Despite being a very popular artist in America and having
received over 20 different music awards, she is to some extent frowned upon due
to her explicit lyrics, extremely revealing costumes and seductive gestures. A
good example of this is her new song ‘Anaconda’. The main issue with modern
music like this is that so many young people listen to it and then go on to
replicate what is said/done in the song. There are many blatant sexual
references through dancing, mise-en-scene and the lyrics themselves and this
translates negatively over into society as young children twerk, thrust and
more in order to be like their favourite singer. To some degree, older and
revolutionary artists such as Madonna and Britney Spears are responsible for
the large shift in what is expected in music videos.
Nicki Minaj competes with female and male artists in the
genre which emphasises the brave and feisty persona seen on screen. In fact,
and abiding by the genre convention, many male R&B singers feature in
Nicki’s songs. Much alike Eminem’s Slim Shady, Nicki has a variety of
alter-egos that she plays in her songs including Nicki Teresa, Roman Zolanski
and Martha Zolanski all staring as characters/moods that she has experienced
throughout the tough stages of her early life. She has referred to herself as
the ‘King of Pop’ which emphasises this male rivalry in the industry. We can
see a visual prompt of this on the cover of her single ‘Freedom’ as she wears a
golden crown as opposed to a sparkly princess’ tiara. 