Congratulations to Nicki Minaj! Over the weekend, the rapper has accomplished yet another milestone of her career. The visual for “Anaconda” has surpassed over 1 billion views. Making her the first-ever solo female rap act to do so.
Directed by Colin Tillery, this was the second single from Nicki Minaj’s 2014 ‘Pinkprint’ album. And samples Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1992 classic, “Baby Got Back.” Within 24 hours of releasing, “Anaconda” had 19.6 million views on the first day. Which now has been broken by Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood.”
Ok after watching @NICKIMINAJ Anaconda 37times I only have one word to sum up my feelings. DAMNNNNN!!!!!! #AnacondaVideoOnVevo
In addition to breaking records, Nicki Minaj received a lot of press for the video. Many people questioned the hyper-sexual display that stirred up a lot of controversy for the Queen’s rapper. It set off a wide range of debates and think pieces of the meaning behind the video.
But for Nick Minaj, it was simple– she just wanted to embrace a curvier body image of women that are often left behind. As explained to ABC News, Nicki states, “I wanted to reinstate something. Because of the shift in pop culture, even Hip Hop men are glorifying the less curvy body. I wanted to say, ‘Hey ladies; you’re beautiful. Hopefully, this changes things, and maybe it won’t change things, but I love it.”
As a result of this huge milestone, Nicki Minaj joins Katy Perry and Rihanna. For being female artists to have six music videos with more than 1 billion views. As a passenger on the ‘Nicki Minaj Hate Train,’ this sure has not stopped the rapper from charting multiple songs on Billboard or achieving accomplishments like this.
