“Ask Lil Wayne who the 5 star bitch is.”, Nicki raps at the end of Yo Gotti’s “5 Star Chick” video where she’s featured with Trina. Of course, I’ll assume she was referring to herself and if Lil Wayne gives Nicki the stamp of approval the whole world should right?  The first time that I heard of Nicki Minaj was around November of 2008. A friend of mine was adamant that she was the baddest chick out and that I should give her a listen. I was initially disgusted. I wasn’t disgusted by the bars that she spat though. I was disgusted solely by her persona during interviews.  One interview in particular allowed me to quickly analyze her as an attention seeking over sexualized joke. So I guess you can say I was a bit bias from the start.

I finally decided to give Nicki a listen so that I could judge her by her music and not solely on her persona. I browsed Youtube and Google to find as many of her songs as possible. I wasn’t impressed off rip but, one song caught my attention. “Keys over Palm Trees” from Nicki’s third mixtape, “Beam Me Up Scotty” allowed me to see a more serious side of the “Barbie”. This track seemed to be less animated, less “Barbie”, less “Nicki Lewinsky”, and even less “Nicki Minaj”. I assumed the track was more Onika Maraj (Nicki’s real name). Even though it seemed that way I know that you can’t take rappers’ lyrics for face value. Besides, in the August 2008 issue of Vibe Magazine Nicki stated that she liked to role play. In fact this statement gives me even more reason to call Nicki a “character”. When referring to “Keys over Palm Trees” above I stated that it was less animated, less “Barbie”, less “Nicki Lewinsky”, and even less “Nicki Minaj”. If you don’t follow Nicki then you wouldn’t know about Nicki’s aliases.  During a recent interview with TT Torrez from Power 92.1 in Richmond, VA Nicki recently talked about how her name and aliases have caused so much controversy. Because of that she’s contemplating ditching the name “Minaj” and reverting to her real last name Maraj.

When Nicki first hit the scene she would often refer to herself as Lil Wayne’s “Mistress” aka “Nicki Lewinsky”. On “Sunshine”, a remake track of Jay-Z’s covered by Nicki and Lil Wayne on Nicki’s sophomore mixtape, “Sucka Free” the two rappers playfully talk about their make believe affair.  “He the president. Yea she Lewinsky but, we never get caught.” says Lil Wayne. In fact the actual cover of the “Sucka Free” mixtape is a cartoon version of Lil Wayne as president giving what looks like a state of the union address with Nicki Minaj by his side.

Nicki has since ditched that moniker and now only refers to herself as “The Harajuku Barbie” or “Barbie”. You can often catch her using the phrase, “It’s Barbie Bitch”. This plays on the cover of her debut mixtape, “Playtime is Over” where Nicki is pictured as a Barbie doll in a box. She’s also recently often caught wearing a diamond necklace that spells out Barbie. Maybe one day Mattel will actually give Nicki an endorsement deal so that she can stop giving them free advertisement.

Due to Nicki’s characterization she’s a walking advertisement for Mattel’s Barbie line and she could also be a walking advertisement for LaGuardia High School in Manhattan. There she studied singing and acting. In Nicki’s music it seems as if we’re presented with more acting than actual lyrical content. It’s almost like listening to a musical monologue. I believe that over time Nicki has developed an alter ego similar to Beyonce and “Sasha Fierce” but, it’s also presented on wax in addition to shows and performances. The music industry is a part of the entertainment industry so Nicki is definitely in the right place but, can we truly call Nicki an emcee? I won’t make that decision just yet. I’d like to at least wait until I hear her debut album since she’s been recently signed to Young Money Entertainment with a distribution deal through Universal Motown. Even though Nicki is very animated in her delivery and less lyrical at least she writes her own rhymes (she’s claimed this in several interviews).

Besides writing her own rhymes if there is one thing that I can praise Nicki for it’s for her grind. Since Nicki hit the scene she’s created buzzes for herself way pass her hometown in Queens, NY. Nicki was a part of Lil Wayne’s “I Am Music Tour”, which took place at the end of 2008 until the beginning of 2009. That was followed by “Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival”, that took place during the summer of 2009.  Nicki is still constantly touring and performing. In addition to her shows her media game is amazing. Nicki has to love her publicist if she has one because from XXL to Vibe, to MTV to BET she is constantly getting interviewed. Nicki may not be at the top of my list when it comes to female rappers or rappers period but, I have to admit that just as much as her animation bugs me sometimes it also amuses me. It keeps me checking for her and when I want to embrace my super “girly” side I know who to turn on.  I also honestly can say that I haven’t seen such animation since Old Dirty Bastard (RIP). So, I won’t give Nicki “The Harajuku Barbie” 5 stars but, I’ll give her three.