Nicki Minaj covers the December issue V magazine. She was photographed by Mario Testino, and the shoot isn’t as risque as you’d expect. I mean, she sticks her butt towards the camera, but that’s typical Nicki. You can see all of the pictures here. Nicki looks fierce, but I’m still adjusting to the “serious” persona of her Pink Print era.
Something is definitely up with Nicki lately. Everyone knows her NSFW “Anaconda” video is completely focused on booties. Nicki tried to tell GQ that if the video made people think about butts, then that’s their issue, not hers. She’s playing a different game with V mag. Nicki says “shame on” the media for focusing on the single cover where her tush is completely out. Nicki thinks she’s being singled out for risque imagery, which makes me wonder if she’s paid any attention to the past few years of Miley Cyrus or Rihanna antics:
On criticism for the “Anaconda” cover: “You’re talking about newspeople who don’t even know anything about hip-hop culture. It’s so disrespectful for them to even comment on something they have no idea about. They don’t say anything when they’re watching the Victoria’s Secret show and seeing boobs and thongs all day. Why? Shame on them. Shame on them for commenting on “Anaconda” and not commenting on the rest of the oversexualized business we’re a part of.”
On empowering women: “I always feel it’s important for me to show females that they can be in charge of their own situation. I came into the game creating my own brand. I was doing things very early on that set me apart from people who just took orders and allowed their brand to be created for them. I love women who take control, who set standards, and who believe in themselves enough to lead the way in terms of their career. I’ve done that. When I win and when I lose.”
On her risque lyrics: “I always push the envelope, because I’m Nicki Minaj. I have to. No matter who I’m on a song with, I feel like I have to say at least one thing no one else is willing to say. Whether it’s Madonna, Britney, or Beyonce, they always tell me, ‘Yes. Be Yourself. Talk your sh-t.'”
[From V magazine]
Yes, Nicki’s risque lyrics are in full force. I’m surprised she doesn’t deny they exist since she’s so full of it lately. Not that she can hide the “t*ssed my salad like his name was Romaine” talk in the “Anaconda” song. Or any of her other lyrics that I can’t repeat here. I also find it hilarious that Nicki keeps throwing tushy tantrums over models’ rear ends. She still doesn’t understand that lingerie catalogs are selling the stuff that the models are wearing. So if you want to sell thongs, the models must wear thongs. Oh well.
At least she didn’t doze off 4 times during this interview. Or maybe she did, and V will tell us all about in the full interview.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & V Magazine
I’m not sure why she released Anaconda… A bit embarrassing… One of the lines from the original song she sampled says “silicon parts are made for toys”.
Nicki Minaj seems nearly more silicon than human these days!
Would be AMAZING for Sir Mix A Lot to come out and say he isn’t into Nicki’s fake butt.
Oh, the irony! Here’s another example of a celebrity who initially courted attention for her big a$$ (cough . . . also Kim K) and now wants to whine that no one appreciates her “art”. Give me a break.
She wants us to pay attention to her butt.
Courts attention.
Gets attention.
Complains.
She’s ridiculous. I just can’t with her.
+1
What’s that line from “Anacona”? I got it- “Im on some dumb sh*t”. We know Nicki, we know.
This.
Why anyone pays attention to the corporate creation is beyond me. A bunch of marketers created her.
Yes, she should be grateful that with little talent, and a good management team, she’s a millionaire – it seems the less talent you have, the more annoying you become.
And who can tolerate a rapper that lip synches?
I agree. Yawn.
I don’t think she even believes in what she says,its ridiculous.
I agree, she doesn’t even believe it herself. She’s playing with people.
I can’t understand a thing she says in her songs anyway.
Tuh – rah – shee
I do not know what is happening, but she’s growing on me. She says stupid stuff and her lyrics are stupid, but whatever. Those pics are hot. Very well styled.
I can’t say I like her music or her attitude per so but … she’s not boring. I read this and thought “Oh whatever. You released that video to get a rise out of people so don’t be a hypocrite.” And yet, I always wonder what kind of crazy things are coming out of her mouth next. She’s simply entertaining, maybe that’s it.
“per se” is what I meant. Good gawd.
“I love women who take control, who set standards, and who believe in themselves enough to lead the way in terms of their career. I’ve done that.”…Really…by being crude, and vulgar? PLEASE! SIT DOWN LITTLE GIRL! A real woman would own her behavior. STOP PLAYING THE VICTIM CARD!
I don’t see her as not ‘owning her behavior’ or trying to pretend that she doesn’t get vulgar though, (and for me, vulgarity is not necessarily a bad thing. I like some vulgarity and crudeness when it’s not in an offensive or problematic situation, so I’m not using the term as an insult). I just see her as complaining about some of the reaction to it.
It’s kind of weird, but sometimes you can do or say something knowing full well that it’s considered crude or ‘too vulgar’ to some people, but then still be surprised by just how outraged and horrified people are in their reaction. Where you’re like, “Wow, are people really THAT uptight about this thing? Are people really so pressed about this?”
This woman is not as smart as she thinks she is. She needs to focus on her music more and less on this “brand” that she’s created for herself. Although, I suspect that she doesn’t have much to say and that is why she has to create all the smoke and mirrors by showing off her body and getting “offended” over people commenting on her album cover and the Anaconda video.
She might not have fallen asleep in this interview, but I nearly did. Can’t wait to never hear her name again
No Nicki, shame on you for singing a song with the lyrics, “This anaconda don’t want none unless you got some”.
And double shame on me for knowing that.
Walks away singing, “I’m all about that base, that base, that base, no trouble.”
I alway thought it was “I’m all about that base, no treble” and that my 3 yr old was singing it wrong to say it was “no trouble”
You could be right. I’ll have to really listen next time so I don’t embarrass myself at the stop lights anymore, cause I sing that bit REALLY loud. Maybe I could alternate so before someone goes to call me out I’ll sing it correctly and they’ll be all like, “Whaaa? hu? Oh, whatever!”
It’s “all about that BASS no treble.” as in music.
This comment makes no sense and you got BOTH songs wrong. -5 points.
The actual line is “My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns, hun” But it’s still body shaming nonetheless for any woman who isn’t endowed with a booty. It’s just that at the time that song came out, there was a lot of body shaming being done to women who actually had big butts, so it was kind of like a tit-for-tat thing
Your comment makes no sense! The “I’m all about the bass” song says the exact same thing!
I like big butts song –> “My anaconda don’t want none if you ain’t got buns hun!”
The About the bass song —> “…boys like a little more booty to hold at night”
Both could be equally said to ‘body shame’ thin frames that lack a ‘booty’. Your post seriously made no sense!
The problem is Nicki´s lack of credibility and self-awareness. I will never take a someone seriously who complains about the attention drawn to her butt and/or breasts when they are exposed all the time and – on top of that – fake. This is now Nicki´s brand, which I personally find sad because i do think that she is talented. Buying huge body parts, sticking them in peoples faces and then complain about the attention is ambivalent and, in this case, borders to delusional behavior. If Nicki would instead just go with it I would understand her better. Not agree with her “art-form”, but, understand it. As someone pointed out; the original lyrics suggests that Sir-Mix-A-Lot was not a fan of silicone parts. Sorry for any misspelling, I´m French and doing my best.
You’re doing it well.
I don’t care about the rest of it, but I’ve got to say that the cover photo is ‘shopped as hell. Nicki is 5’2″ and she looks at least 5’8″ in these pics. Seriously, it looks like they just stretched her legs a good five inches and added an inch to her neck. She looks like a bobble-head cartoon
And they shaped her butt better too. He implants usually look saggy on her frame in real life. So kudos to the ‘shopper.
That was my first thought, she normally looks more pear shaped. They’ve really stretched and thinned her to have a totally different body in that photo.
She kinda right, I think. About many facets of entertainment/media being oversexualized. But also somewhat hypocritical, after all her lyrics and videos contribute quite largely to female oversexualization and she seems to enjoy it.
Her music good and I don’t mind it when it’s on the radio and I’m driving. But that film clip is a little to much for me & I’m by know means a prude. I like how having a booty is a thing now ( just waiting for the big belly faze to hit). And it was only recently that I’ve notice some celebs or models that have no arses and how some meat now at the back is so more desired.
That’s a false equivocation, and a rather insulting one at that. Having a “big belly” is not akin to having a big butt. Big bellies are typically a direct result of being overweight, at least in the eyes of most people. Having a big butt is not something you can even reasonably control, especially for women of certain ethnic backgrounds. But aside from the Native American [not known for their large behinds by any means] in my blood, I’m mainly N. European and I have a pretty big bubble butt. I am not overweight, I am a size 4. For the majority of my childhood and on into age 16 I was terribly ashamed of my butt. This was right before I guess Jennifer Lopez hit it big and ushered in a wave of appreciation for girls who are stacked in the back, and it sucked back then. I wore a flannel around my waist most of the time, and this was in the late 90’s early 00’s, grunge was no longer in style. I was humiliated that my butt wasn’t flat and nondescript like the majority of my white female peers. It wasn’t until the basketball team started making comments about the “white girl with a phat ass” that I even considered the idea I had a good thing going on back there, my own mother used to ridicule me [“bubble butt bimbo,” she called me, jokingly but still]. The thing is, I think it’s much more healthy and positive that we are now “allowed” to have a big butt, because when having a flat ass was in style plenty of women and girls starved themselves [myself included] to alter a part of their body that cared little about their diet or exercise routine. When you have a big butt, you’re stuck with it, it’s hard to change no matter how much weight you lose, but that didn’t stop people from going to very unhealthy lengths to try to achieve the supermodel flat ass the media back then so exalted. Sure, the current booty hype we are experiencing has caused many celebrities and everyday people to go under the knife, but overall the current, curvy ideal is more inclusive to women than the 90’s ideal physique was on the whole.
Also, I can’t believe how terrible most of these butt implant jobs look. Kim K and Nicki Minaj both look totally warped, their butts aren’t even of an appealing proportion, nor are they particularly perky or well shaped. They look terrible, Nicki looks like an awkward pear shaped cartoon in that Anaconda video surrounded by dancers with real booties which made her fake ass stand out as even weirder looking. That was a bad idea. I guess you have to have the hips, thighs, and pelvic structure to pull off a big booty and sticking implants in a flat-assed woman’s behind doesn’t give her the necessary proportions to pull it off. It’s like the implants sag into their thighs or something, and their butts look almost square.
Yes, yes Nicki, the world just doesn’t understand your remarkable artistry and unrelenting genius. And you totally liberated all women everywhere with your incredible gift and we would all cease to be without your guiding light. Why can’t everybody just take Nicki’s word for it that she is as amazing as she says she is? Because she isn’t? SHAME ON US EARTH! SHAME! /sarcasm
I’m more annoyed that they called Nicki’s video vulgar but had NO problem praising the JLo and Iggy video two weeks later. Because ya know it’s only okay for certain people to be sexual beings. Nicki should’ve made THAT point in her interview
MTE Allie.
Who’s ” they ” … Victim much.. Don’t recall anyone praising JLO’s butt song , on this blog or anywhere .
The media. Take a look at the headlines surrounding both songs and then get back to me. There were several articles written about the discrepancy. It’s not “playing the victim” when you point out how differently the media paints certain people.
Except she’s made this point before and no one listened.
I wonder why…
Yes, she’s vulgar and crude (this part of my post is not directed at the person I’m replying to but at previous comments), however she’s a rapper and never tried to portray herself as an intellectual artist.
Does she have an over inflated sense of self? Hell yeah she does (lol), especially since her “brand” is simply a repackaged Lil Kim (who did it better, IMO).
Snoop, Too Short, UGK, and several other rappers have had similar covers yet a woman who uses HER body vs another person’s is problematic?
She’s always been pro woman and talked of how important it is for us to assert ourselves, especially in male dominated fields–this is nothing new.
Also, she has every right to bitch about the critiques of her cover regardless of how much of her body is bought and displayed 😒
Can it be tiring at times? Sure, but those pictures she tweeted of other women’s asses (which elicited no outrage) make her point.
It doesn’t matter if they’re VS models and selling lingerie, her body (bought or not) is part of her brand, period.
But, but, she allowed herself to be turned into a blow up doll under Lil Wayne’s mentoring. If you knew about Nicki from before she signed on the CMYM’s label, you knew she was naturally petite. and had a different edge to her music and persona. Yet she and her CMYM team felt it necessary to start blowing her proportions up to conform to the Hip Hop video vixen look that the male dominated hip hop industry kept pushing. Then they decided that wasn’t enough either and had to follow Gaga’s formula and turn to attention grabbing costumes and gimmicks. It makes me wonder how much of that was her idea and how much was pushed by Wayne &Co. It doesn’t make me see her as pro-woman and it sounds like she compromised herself a lot to get to where she is. *shrug*
@Whatwhatnot
You are 100% correct, anyone who is familiar with pre-YM Nicki knows she is an absolute sellout.
I must have been looking at different “media”. Both were treated similarly in what I saw. People recognized that the videos were extreme attempts to gain attention and were done by artists who had no issue sexually exploiting themselves. It seemed to me that people were salivating over both videos.
I can’t remember the site that posted it but they screenshot headlines about both songs. The ones about Anaconda was WAY more negative. It was a story about cultural appropriation and it talked about a variety of things including the recent Elle and Vogue headline missteps, the NFL team name, etc. It was a good read.
Sure nicki I won’t talk about you song. I’ll comment on how apparently your boyfriend of 14 years allegedly left you because you took a bat to his car. Of course it was a Ferrari (or some other expensive car) you bought him.
what?! omg
These pictures make her butt look normal. She actually has a nice figure here.
An arse…is an arse.
It’s not ART, it’s not CULTURE, it’s not MUSIC, it’s not FEMINISM, it’s not EMPOWERMENT.
It’s an arse!
Nicki doesn’t always make perfect sense, but she often makes good points. It’s hard for many people to see that because they won’t look past the fact that she shows off her body. Which, of course, is a sin. She’s sooo vulgar and trashy, according to many.
MTE Almondy.
I think that its hard to take Nicki seriously when everything she says and does seems like its a blatant attempt to court controversy. Nicki is savvy enough to know that a good scandal (or feud or whatnot) is a great way to get press and exposure, but it feels like everything with her is a blatant cash grab.
I can’t blame her for courting controversy. The shelf life of a female rapper is very short. She has to do these things.
At this point it’s her business model. “Anaconda” was a special song… when Sir Mix A Lot released it.
“It’s hard for many people to see that because they won’t look past the fact that she shows off her body. Which, of course, is a sin.” This!
She kind of does have a point about the hypocrisy- people are DEEPLY hypocritical about sexuality, and it’s kind of strange and unfair. Many people participate in sexualized media or entertainment in one way or another- whether it’s reading or writing erotica, viewing or participating in some kind of porn (including hentai and ecchi), victoria’s secret shows, strip clubs, whatever. Many people have no problems with movies with sex and nudity scenes either, and wouldn’t have a word of criticism for the actors or actresses who participated in those scenes.
But some of the same people who are chill about the above things I’ve mentioned would also get on their high horse about female pop stars like Nicki, Beyonce, or Miley not covering up?
The hypocrisy is seen in other ways too. Nicki should have brought up how people made a fuss about her thong cover, but nobody said sh-t about Adam Levine’s cover where he was completely naked save for a hand covering his junk. And you know it’s only because he’s a man. If he were any female celebrity, people would have clutched the pearls like they always do. Same thing with Channing Tatum vs. Kim Kardashian- both have pasts related to the sex industry, both have continued to play it up in different ways in the media and sexualized themselves as well, but only one of them gets shit for it. Can we honestly say that this is JUST because Kim Kardashian is an annoying, overexposed reality TV star, or does gender and attitudes about what women should and shouldn’t be doing with their bodies also play a part?
Pop stars ≠ porn stars or characters of erotic fiction. Pop stars, and female rappers are musicians and entertainers. People who have an issue with over-sexualized female pop music performers can also enjoy adult entertainment because the two are not related. The days when folks categorized all female entertainers as sexual commodities are behind us and that is a good thing.
@Falkor: They ‘can’, but it’s still hypocritical. If sexualization- the hilighting of one’s sexuality or sex appeal, whether subtly or overtly- is so evil, if female pop stars being sexually immodest is such an oppressive, exploitive sin in one’s eyes, then why are strip clubs, porn, and non-porn movies that involve actors being in various states of undress or engaged in sexual scenes- all okay? It’s not a consistent stance.
Actually what she has done is completely punked Lena Dunham
And my god I never cared for Ms Minaj but my goodness
The shame on them line for talking about like Lena Dunham threatening to sue after her book was quoted
BWAHAHAHAHAHA
She likes to complain about everything.
Here’s my issue:
Women that exploit their bodies and sexuality and say it’s “empowering” and “taking control”. I question if it really is? Would Nikki have put in all that silicone for her own personal satisfaction on what she thinks is beautiful? Or did she do this because she knew guys were attracted to that kind of body? Who is she really doing this for? It bothers me that women in our society (I fall prey to this as well!) and in media still look to men for approval in our bodies. What would we look like if we had NO influence on what men wanted? Would we wear weaves? Wigs? Lip fillers? Breast implants? Just a question, not at all saying that if you do in fact have these additional enhancements that you only did it for men’s approval and not yourself. I dye my hair red because I think I look pretty with it. Not for a guy.
What I guess I am trying to say is that we women still hold our sexuality up for men for their approval and still do not truly “own it”. Look at these songs about booty, for instance. Even JLo’s “booty” video is about men wanting women with big butts and how they want to claim that as their property. One of the lyrics: it’s his birthday, give him what he asked for. Because a man commands it, we should give it to him? Anyway, just bothers me a bit. This is false female empowerment.
That’s all…
You brought up an interesting point, and you did it well too…. you didn’t make that common mistake of saying “Any woman who does X with her body, physical appearance, or sexuality can’t be empowered and is only doing it for male approval”- a huge mistake that a lot of people make.
There are a lot of contradicting things women and girls have been taught that they are or are not supposed to be or do in order to please men and ‘keep them in check’, whether the issue is modesty, shaving, or anything else. But sometimes because people know these kind of pressures exist, and because a woman’s decision doesn’t sit well with them personally, they’ll automatically assume that the man-pleasing reason is the motive, without even bothering to look at the woman’s own personal preferences, beliefs, and experience as a woman- which are also motivations that influence the personal decisions we make.
I don’t think it’s always oppressive for a woman to allow a man’s opinion to influence a physical appearance or sexual choice, and I’m absolutely against the idea that equality and liberation require women to avoid doing certain things with their bodies that they actually want to because there are menz and childrenz out there, but I do think there’s a problem when women do things they actually do not want to do at all specifically because they have to earn male approval.
@ Sassy, Otaku Fairy; great points, you gave me some food for thought.
I first heard about Nicki Minaj in an on-line article about female rappers who were up and coming. It featured a number of them that were ok to excellent. Except for Minaj. My immediate reaction to her was RIDICULOUS and what the hell is she saying. Some of her stuff is ok as pop but it’s not ground breaking, earth shattering or innovative in any way. And does she remind anyone else, in terms of her body presentation of early Lil Kim? Nothing there that interested me about her at all. Who I did come away admiring big time was this woman: Invincible. Check her out. And this song Sledgehammer seems to apply to this article about Minaj: “that’s why your respect is the size of your attention span.” Indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze-S5Wz0iTc
And one of my favorites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aye78fQbR7M
Take that Nicki. And shut the hell up about your ass.
I loved the song Sledgehammer!! I didn’t know about this girl, thank you for sharing
Glad you like it !
So, if one doesn’t like Anaconda, it’s for being prude or hypocritical… Sure, lady.
And since she brought hip hop culture up, I can’t help but wonder, is this what hip hop is about? Showing off money, being misogynist, stupid and oversexualized? If it is, then why people acused Lorde of being racist for criticizing it, since it’s all so crappy?
” I also find it hilarious that Nicki keeps throwing tushy tantrums over models’ rear ends. She still doesn’t understand that lingerie catalogs are selling the stuff that the models are wearing.” the models she was commenting on last i checked on her twitter was sports illustrated models-and since when does sports illustrated sell underwear? sorry bedhead but you are wrong on that point. but cant disagree with your other points-other female artists have also gotten stick for being risque not just her!