Nicki Minaj: A Decade on Disaster Year

A decade ago, in the summer of 2009 a new musical sensation hit our screens. A female artist with a rap style and aesthetic the likes of which the world wasn't ready for, and this female shot straight to the top. This rapper of course is Nicki Minaj. I can remember when i first heard and saw Nicki Minaj and it was the same for everyone around me. It was in 2009 on the song 'Bedrock' by Young Money, a music collective and record label spearheaded by the rapper Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne was a household name and well known but when he presented the world with Nicki Minaj on 'Bedrock' everyone stopped and asked themselves, "who the hell is this girl, and how is she so good?!"

From her putting on comical accents in her rapping to her eccentric, colorful wigs and unique style Nicki Minaj headed straight to the top becoming the 'Top Girl'. Everything she released was platinum selling material and  from early on in her career made her mark in the music industry. For all of my teenage years from when i was 11  all the way until i was 19 i never saw any female rapper but Nicki Minaj. She remained untouched, unscathed and seemed invincible.

That all changed in 2014 when Bronx rapper Remy Ma was released from her 7 year spell in a federal prison in New York. This was when, as music listeners, we got a chance to see another female rapping and hear a new female voice in the mainstream. One that wasn't Nicki. It was a change, it was refreshing and it was new to a younger generation who were unaware of Remy Ma's extensive catalogue. Remy Ma of course could not just end Nicki's empire but she did provide one thing that is needed in hip-hop music. Competition. And Remy opened the floodgates to a wave of new female rappers. An influx that has seen Nicki Minaj struggle to keep on top over the past few years.

In 2017 with the help of her profound social media following and her exposure on the Reality TV show 'Love and Hip-Hop New York' we then saw a new artist burst onto the scene. With her debut single 'Bodak Yellow' going straight to number one. We suddenly saw Cardi B.

Cardi's charisma, character and fresh energy drew attention away from Nicki Minaj and people started to focus on Cardi instead. Nicki having been in the industry for a decade at that point seemed industry trained to listeners and fans. Boring, uncharismatic and had just become a commercialized product. Whereas Cardi's comic social media gags and her 'rough around the edges' demeanor made her more relateable.

With Cardi's rise from a New York City strip club to stardom we started to hear from other females with similar stripper to star stories: Young M.A. Dream Doll, Kash Doll, Asian Doll, Cuban Doll, Bianca Bonnie and Stefflon Don. Suddenly it seemed as if we had lost Nicki in an overcrowded scene of female rappers. However after weeks covert taunting and finger pointing back and forth between Cardi B and Nicki Minaj on social media we saw a battle royale at New York Fashion Week between the two, with Nicki claiming her close friend Rashidah Ali beat up Cardi B and that she was humiliated that it had to end up how it did,but, Cardi was quick to respond stating she was never beaten up and addressed other issues she had with Nicki Minaj. Mostly how she lies and causes controversy. When Cardi exposed Nicki Minaj we started to hear less from the former queen and fans were questioning whether or not she was going to carry on releasing music.

But the final nail in the coffin so to speak was 'Shether' a diss track released by Remy Ma after she took disrespect to some lyrics of Nicki Minaj. The lyrics addressed Nicki's brother and his legal issues relating to paedophilia as well as exposing her financial situation, various cosmetic procedures the rapper had done and alleged drug use. It also saw her win best female artist two years in a row at the BET awards (an award Nicki was set to win) and saw her a hit record featuring Fat Joe "All The Way Up".

All of this controversy was in the lead up to the release of Nicki's album entitled "Queen" which she expected to hit Number one on the billboard charts. However, Nicki was not able to knock Travis Scott's album "Astroworld" off the top spot and had to settle for number two which saw Nicki start to attack Travis on her apple music radio show "Queen radio" where she labelled him a "H*e N*gger" and said he was just an "Autotune man" who was just "selling sweaters".

The album was not received well by critics and did not get much radio play. Nicki went on to attack her ex-boyfriend Safaree on the radio as a result of this claiming he stole her credit cards to pay for prostitutes when she was trying to fund her rap career in Atlanta. All these situations in 2018 leave me wondering what we will see from Nicki in 2019. Her dominant perception in the media is that she has turned bitter in the face of losing the super-fame she once had and is using these public stunts to try and win back the limelight. But is Nicki Minaj fading? Only time will tell.