Author: Kara B (Twitter @karabrazey20)
“The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back towards slavery.” W.E.B Dubois - Black Reconstruction in America.
What we are witnessing with Nicki Minaj’s legacy is simultaneous acts of manipulation and suppression by entities beyond the consumer’s control. The Grammy’s aren’t as affected by consumer outrage as is the maker of a product on your local store shelf. They operate in conjunction with a music industry that lacks accountability or regard for anything or anyone viewed as an obstacle to their end goal. The Grammy committee and the organization as a whole, has allowed certain music labels, management companies and other scrupulous entities, to syphon their credibility in exchange for relationships, incentives and favors.
Removing Nicki Minaj’s rap song ‘Super Freaky Girl' from the rap category while allowing Latto’s self proclaimed pop song ‘Big Energy’ to remain in the rap category, should answer all your questions about the Grammy’s, its credibility and the hate for Nicki Minaj. The Grammy’s have a long history of disrespecting hip-hop culture, by shutting black artist out of certain categories, but now that hip hop is the #1 music genre in the world, they can profit from it by playing music industry games.
So the Grammys put Nicki Minaj's hit song ‘Super Freaky Girl’ in the pop category. This is wrong! We all know she is not going to win the Grammy if she is in the pop section. They didn’t put her in the rap category because they want someone specific to win.
— Doc Louallen (@LouallenDoc) October 14, 2022
About a week ago, an article from The Hollywood Reporter, ignited a discussion on the fairness of the Grammy voting committee amongst music lovers and fans. The article is titled, “Nicki Minaj’s ‘Super Freaky Girl’ Kicked Out of Grammy Rap Category, Will Compete In Pop (Exclusive).” Well, if ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is pop, then what is ‘Big Energy’? Both songs were produced by the same pop heavy producer and both are sampled from classics. ‘Big Energy’ sampled Mariah Carey’s ‘Fantasy’ pop hit’ Mariah’s version is a sample of Tom Tom Club’s, ‘Genius of Love.’ 'Super Freaky Girl’ samples the late great Rick James hit single ‘Super Freak,’ which was also sampled by MC Hammer for his international hit “Can’t Touch This” in 1990. Hammer’s version won a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance.
The Hollywood Reporter’s article prompted Nicki Minaj to go on IG live and ask for transparency and fairness from the Grammy committee. A successful black woman, any woman in general having to publicly ask for fairness from their peers, should outrage all of us. Having to voice workplace injustices to the world because you know your voice has been so marginalized, this is the only way you can get accountability. And in doing so, becoming s target for biased industry connected blogs, who intentionally misconstrue and conflate the actual issue to uplift another 'flourishing’ artist. This is what Nicki Minaj contends with. Blatant hypocrisy, disrespect and gas lighting.
@RecordingAcad should be transparent on how they made the decision. MC Hammer sampled Super Freak & was nominated in the rap category. They screwed @NICKIMINAJ on this one. Show receipts or lose what credibility may be left. https://t.co/g401eW12jt
— Troy (@justcallmetroy) October 14, 2022
Even though Nicki spoke articulately and carefully with her words to not offend any other artist or their music, there is always a frog willing to jump and test the waters. Nicki said nothing disrespectful about that artist or their song, but the frog leaped anyway. It’s no secret to Nicki Minaj fans that when a female rapper wants a “moment,” they either respond to Barbz or try to engage in a back n forth with Nicki.
And the hill of contrived humility is the hill that frog will die on. Manipulation and campaigns for sympathy is becoming the blueprint for female rappers. Whether it’s manipulating urban media, streaming numbers over at Apple Music, radio spins or cultural influencers, the music industry’s mission to create an “influencer female rapper” is the end goal. That is why we are here.
There are a few reasons why the Grammy’s are continuing to suppress Nicki’s impact at the urging of certain record labels. For one, the longer Nicki remains at the helm of female rap, the “standard of rap” remains in place and two, she is being punished for her success and for the stronghold she has on female rap fans. As long as Nicki is competition to the local harem of idiots, her organic success will always be downplayed or stifled. Awarding certain subpar female rappers with Grammy’s is meant to be a slap in Nicki’s face. To remind her that she may have the success, but she won’t get their validation. Trying to make Nicki play the game by making it seem to the public, “this” particular artist is more relevant and talented than she is.
Atlantic Records and Roc Nation management know bots don’t buy concert tickets. They know all those low-level endorsements mean nothing when the artist can’t even sell their own music. Imagine how dumb a company would feel if they paid a female rapper 500k or 7 figures to endorse a product and they had little if any impact on the product selling. It’s called perceived influence. A label like Atlantic records will make their female rapper appear “hot” by huge social media pushes, media manipulation, inflated streaming numbers and strategic placement as if they were paper plates at your local Dollar General store. Strategic placement of a female rapper is akin to Roc Nation management throwing their female rapper on SNL knowing damn well that is a specific audience and they have no fckn interest in that girl music. Fake Balenciaga campaigns that never produced as much as a sock. My personal favorite is using real social issues as talking points on social media for their narrow ass minds. Drop a tear hoes.
All of this because they know “Super Freaky Girl” is an organic worldwide smash. They wouldn’t be able to justify snubbing it for Low Energy. Nicki’s talent is leagues above that jump frog. So, the Grammy committee allowed that label to grease their palms behind the scenes and tried to slide “Super Freaky Girl” into the pop category as an appeasement. They know damn well, that RAP song wouldn’t stand a chance against the biggest pop stars in the world. But this was their goal. If Nicki had said nothing, that jump frog would have been able to walk away with a Grammy that has already been paid for. Nicki would lose to Harry or Adele and be expected to say “at least I was nominated” knowing full well it was an act of sabotage. But Nicki shook the table.
The Grammy’s removing ‘Super Freaky Girl’ out of the Rap category and allowing Low Energy to remain, tells you the agenda is still at play. But this time they were caught red handed and just like Nicki said, tried to clean it up with the Variety article. How low down and dirty can The Shade Room get? To participate in this mess for a few dollars while aiding in the suppression of another black woman’s work. When the Grammy’s got called out publicly, I know they were scrambling behind the scenes to correct the narrative. Trying to justify the very real question of “Super Freaky Girl” being snubbed out of the rap category, while the actual pop song *big energy remained. This is where the Variety article that The Shade roomwas peddling comes into play. The Grammy did the ultimate Trumpian move, deflecting. Instead of answering the question they instead pointed to “Do We Have A Problem” having a possible nomination as well as “Blick Blick” and “Love In the Way”. Mind you, the latter 2 songs are not Nicki’s songs only features.
Nicki went on IG live last night with Young Money President, Mack Maine and addressed the intentional media manipulation with a calmness that is enviable. Let’s make this clear for the dum dums at the back of the bus, Nicki isn’t raging about a Grammy or putting credibility into them. She is the most successful female rapper in history without one ok. What Nicki is asking is “why is my work being suppressed so someone else can shine”. I’m going to take it a step further and ask why are female rappers so comfortable with benefitting off the blatant suppression of Nicki? Nicki not only pointed out the hypocrisy of the Grammy’s, but she for the 1st time acknowledged the benefits other female rappers receive while her music is actively and visibly being sabotaged. But this leads back to the reasons the Grammy’s are playing these industry games. ‘Super Freaky Girl’ wasn’t supposed to be as big as it is and now they are trying to suppress the impact of the song and Nicki’s influence by keeping it out of the rap category.
They know the jump frog can’t compete with Nicki based on merit and talent, so to give her the upper hand, they eliminated Nicki. And to add insult to injury placed her rap song in the pop category and used Variety and The Shade Room bum asses to push the narrative. By pushing that article, the Grammy’s wanted to create a scenario to the losers that frequent The Shade Room, that Nicki was angry for no reason and to clean up their mess and the mess the jump frog made without answering the question. DWHAP being possibly nominated as a rap song was never an issue, but they used it as a smoke screen to keep from answering the actual concern of “Super Freaky Girl” being snubbed from the rap category, even though it is 100% a rap song. And in fairness, Nicki said she didn’t have a problem with them moving her rap song to the pop category but *big energy is a pop song and it should be moved as well. How can they justify snubbing the rap song out of the rap category but leaving the pop song in the rap category? I don’t want to hear that clown shit about *big energy being submitted as a live version. It’s a fucking pop song.
Before I close out remember this. Nicki is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry and they know it. She sold out major festivals such as Wireless and was the 1st woman artist to headline Rolling Loud. #1 debut 15 years into her career and she orchestrated an all-female rapper remix to her hit single, “Super Freaky Girl” titled “Queen Mix” and dipped into her island gyal roots with a collaboration with Jamaican dance hall artist Skeng. Skeng’s “Likkle Miss” ft Nicki Minaj secured a spot on her “Queen Radio: Volume1” compilation album. Nicki continued to flex her producer skills and assembled the Caribbean Avengers, creating a culture shaking historical moment with the #FineNine remix of “Likkle Miss”. Featuring the hottest dance hall artists and up and coming rappers from America and the UK.
The industry is afraid of Nicki’s influence, impact and longevity. Nicki moves the culture forward both musically and commercially-they can’t eat off her. Nicki isn’t tied to a 360 deal and she doesn’t need men to write her raps, she owns her craft. And because of that, the music industry knows in about a year’s time their façade will fade away and the public will see it for what it is.
That’s why they are trying to get that jump frog a Grammy. After all that radio play and suppressing Nicki, they need something to show for it as the jump frog fades into the background of obscurity.