Let’s be frank here, the only thing rap fans have cared about for the past week and a half is Game’s ongoing feud with Meek Mill. Kicking off the assault with “92 Bars” from his upcoming 1992 album, Game touches on Meek’s relationship with current girlfriend Nicki Minaj. The attack was pretty raw too — with lines including “And I’ve been wanting to give Nicki this pool stick / So tell your lil’ vivrant thing come fuck with Q-Tip.” The onslaught continued on Instagram with more allusions to Onika. Nicki’s ex Safaree even managed to enter the fray with comments implying Meek instrumental in their break-up.
This isn’t the first time either.
During Meek’s first big loss last year against Drake, that “girl’s tour” line from the Grammy Award-nominated “Back To Back” was a brutal knockout punch. Staying silent on the issue for quite some time, Nicki has yet to respond. During an interview this year with Zane Lowe, Drake did mention not speaking to the “Anaconda” rapper. At this point, she’s looking like collateral damage. Despite being one of the most successful artists in music today, has her gender become an unfair liability? HipHopDX Senior Features Writer Ural Garrett and Music Curator Kyle Eustice give their opinions on recent developments.
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Is Nicki Minaj Fair Game In Beefs?
Ural Garrett: Being the prophet that I believe myself to be, something told me as soon as Meek entered a beef while in a relationship with Minaj, she would be collateral damage. The “world tour or your girl’s tour” line was comedic gold before I even asked myself why I found it funny. Did the psychological fear of being seen as the “bitch” in my relationship push me to make more money than my female significant other, therefore making me feel more manly, or is my masculinity that fragile? Oh, the burden of loving independent millennial women.
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I don’t even know, but Meek looked ridiculous regardless. All’s fair in love and war. This is Hip Hop. Most importantly, Drizzy ended up victorious in the eyes of many. Opinions about the track from the Toronto-native’s large female fanbase were all over the place. For every writer like Buzzfeed’s Tamerra Griffin responding to the track with flame emojis, Pitchfork contributor Meaghan Garvey made an interesting analysis in her “I’m Breaking Up With Drake” op-ed. “The hilarious joke, you see, is that Nicki is more successful than Meek, and thus is like the dude in the relationship,” she wrote. “That’s a new one!”
Since then, Minaj has yet to directly address the situation in interviews and dismisses it instead.
And, here we are today. Game’s lyrical violation of Meek came through Nicki yet again. This time in a crude animalistic variety that felt unnecessary besides the dope bars like “I’m the old DMX you niggas Drag-On.” The follow-up Instagram posts were even more brutal. If fans and artists support that, maybe Nicki isn’t as respected as many would portray her to be. Doesn’t matter if she has become a record-breaking megastar. Jay Z has been dissed on numerous occasions since getting with Beyonce and no one has mentioned her in a disrespectful way to get at Hov. Even Lloyd Banks apologized to Ashanti for dissing her during the G-Unit vs. Murda Inc. saga.
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Outside of Hip Hop, Trump and Obama supporters constantly used the “if she can’t please her man, how can she be president” argument against Hillary Clinton due to Bill’s past infidelity. Her accomplishments and resume matter none. I guess Nicki must be feeling the same way. Meek is messing up and she’s paying the price. Unlike Carmen Bryan, who was at the center of Jay vs. Nas, Queen Barbz has an actual career to worry about.
Kyle Eustice: Nicki Minaj’s implicit reliance on a hyper-sexualized image has been both her weakness and strength since emerging with Young Money in 2009. Naturally, a half naked woman on an album cover is going to garner attention, but it’s also made her an easy target (no pun intended). Rather than relying on her skills as a rapper, she’s banking on the “sex sells” idea and yes, it’s obviously worked. However, when feuds like this pop up and she’s caught in the middle, she quickly becomes fair game. (Again, she’s an easy target.) When your whole persona revolves around looking like a stripper, men (and women) lose respect for you almost immediately. While that may not be right, it’s a fact. So when The Game said he was going to give Minaj his “pool stick,” it wasn’t a big surprise and didn’t really have that shock value he probably thought it did while crafting it.
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As a woman, however, The Game’s diss doesn’t bother me quite as much as Drake’s does, only because he touches on a sensitive subject—the threat an independent, successful, motivated, and talented woman poses on a man’s ego. When he asked Mill, “Is that a world tour or your girl’s tour?” he brought up a very interesting point. Women aren’t at home playing Betty Crocker anymore. They’re CEOs, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and in this case, world famous rap stars.
A real man knows how to show his support for the powerful woman in his life, seeing her more as a point of pride than a sign of his own inferiority. Nicki is a force all of her own, and she should be commended for that. While she may go about getting attention and money differently than some women, no one can knock her hustle. There’s a slight chance she’s sitting around with Mill laughing about this anyway. After all, what does she care? She’s wealthy, driven, young, beautiful, and has someone that loves her by her side.
