Recently, Nicki Minaj allegedly using ghostwriters has been a topic of conversation. As a result, the record-breaking female rapper felt the need to publicly defend herself on Twitter. She did so on Saturday. Honestly, she seemed completely fed up, and who can blame her? For nearly her entire career, people have questioned whether or not Nicki wrote her own songs as if it would take away from her success as an artist. Therefore, she constantly has to quiet naysayers.
The Success of Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj is one of the more successful and influential female rappers, period. Regardless of how much you like (or love) her music, no one can deny that. Or so you’d think. For nearly her entire career, people have tried to undermine Nicki’s effort and take credit away from her. Is it because of jealously? Disrespect? Or simply because she’s a woman? This is from 2018:
https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/1000115103637815296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1000115103637815296%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FNICKIMINAJ2Fstatus2F1000115103637815296widget%3DTweet
In it, Nicki describes how someone gave credit to Eminem for her verse in one of the songs they wrote together. Nicki attributes this to her gender saying, “Ya’ll try to take away everything from women.” Sadly, there does seem to be a pattern of taking credit away from Nicki to give it to a man. Similarly, in 2013, Nicki famously dissed Ransom for attempting a similar maneuver. In his song “Man Alone,” he came at her saying, “Before Nicki was wearing those crazy wigs / I was doing verses for her just hoping she’d make it big.” Then, Nicki responded saying, “I’m not even a man and n-ggas got my dick in they mouth. […] I don’t need no motherfuckin’ ghostwriter. So if you telling that lie, you must be real fuckin’ desperate and you still ain’t gon’ pop.”
A Tireless Defense
The ghost of others’ insecurity followed Nicki for years. Unfortunately, this insecurity reared its ugly head from 2013 to 2018 and now, in 2021. Nicki took a break from paying for her fans’ education to, once again, reasserting her ownership over her own success. On Twitter she said:
🥳 yup. ChunLi AND BarbieTingz were written by me from start to finish. i saw you guys talking about it. I could go down the list. Who wants me to? one writer & 1 producer. I also signed that producer. JReid — he’s dope. https://t.co/jpi6DCt6fe
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) December 11, 2021
Songs I wrote the rap AND the hook to.
Moment4Life
DidItOnEm
BeezInTheTrap
HighSchool
Probably the whole pink Friday album. Most of all the album cuts on my albums. These I’m naming r singles.
Other “writers” names’ are added for sampling, adlibs, feature, production, etc.— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) December 11, 2021
It’s time to let the Queen claim her castle.
by Chris Colasurdo
Twitter: cfcolasurdo