How Nicki Minaj & Barbz Gag City Changes Music Marketing Forever

How Nicki Minaj & Barbz Gag City Changes Music Marketing Forever

Writer: Kara B (@karabrazey20 on X/formerly Twitter)

Welcome to Gag City, a pink virtual phenomenon created by Nicki Minaj’s dedicated fanbase known as The Barbz, in anticipation of her long awaited 5thstudio album “Pink Friday 2.” Gag City is an AI virtual world that embodies Nicki Minaj’s aesthetic, serving as a meeting place for Barbz as we awaited the release of “PF2” on December 8th. Gag City is a fully independent city separate from industry politics and revolves around one woman, the president of Gag City, Nicki Minaj. 

While promoting the album on social media, Nicki Minaj embraced her fans creation of #GagCity and the phrase took up a life of its own. Fans created Gag City images with planes headed to the destination using AI images of Nicki and other celebrities. What started off as an inside thing between Minaj and her fans, soon developed into a virtual city complete with high rise condos, restaurants, laundry mats, radios stations, car dealerships, hotels, fine dine, and resorts.

 

 

               The “Gaggery” Of It All

The closer the album date was, the more elaborate the Gag City infrastructure became. Shopping centers including the Barbz very own Chanel store (we know how muva loves the double C’s), churches, banks, airports, the ‘FTCU’ night club, pink flying dolphins; it was truly a visual feast. 

 

 But the most remarkable aspect of all the Gag City concept is that it was built, pushed, and marketed by fans. Not the bots of certain labels or management teams trying to shove their artist down the public throat. An army of real music buying and streaming Barbz marketed this album by welcoming the world into their dream world. 

It was impossible to escape the power and momentumt that the Gag City movement brought to the internet and social media. Major brands such as Taco Bell, Trident, Amazon, Smoothie King Center, Nutter Butter, Radio stations, Mainstream tv shows, and many more all capitalized off the Gag City wave that took “X” (formerly known as Twitter) by storm. 

 

 Many AI versions of our fave celebrities graced the streets of Gag City including Kim Kardashian, 50 Cent, Sexyy Red, Karol G, Lil Baby, Kai Cenat, Lil Nas X, Monica, Keyshia Cole, and Bia all proving the power of this virtual wave. 


The all-inclusive community built to support Minaj’s upcoming album was equipped with gates to keep the hating hoes and the paid for influencers out. I’m sure there were a few record labels and artists that were yearning to participate but lost their favor with Barbz. #Good.

 

All artists market their music to the public but never has there been a campaign initiated strictly by fans. This proves not only the star power Nicki has but her impact and influence amongst the fanbase she cultivated and built from the ground up. The Gag City promo had every record label watching and calculating all the traction to the virtual city. Without saying a word, Nicki Minaj’s fan base executed the biggest marketing strategy the music industry has ever seen. 


That is the definition of power and influence. Gag City came at no cost to Nicki, whereas any other artist would have to spend millions for that type of promotion. We saw mainstream media outlets watching and reporting from the sidelines as the #PinkFriday2 promo took off without them. Nicki Minaj set a precedent on how to market your music without industry backing. 


This needed to happen as certain female rapper stans and record label interns have gotten too comfortable with minimizing Nicki's success to keep the leaches of the sea attached to her.  Nicki has elevated female rap to another level; a level where dirty industry tactics won’t prosper. Her business savviness is enviable and as the Getty Reject tries to remain attached to her, the bar she must reach becomes increasingly higher. 

Because Gag City is a fan-initiated concept in support of Nicki, only major entities and the celebs invited in could capitalize off the momentum. If you were a certain record label wouldn’t you be pissed right about now?

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3 comments

Great article

Atendaho

Very well written!

Just Us

Brilliant!

Tammi Wright

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