Nicki Minaj has regularly been featured on top-charting tracks from male MCs and pop stars. (Michael Stewart/Getty Images)
Nicki Minaj gets no respect — and her fans readily agree. The rapper has been speaking up for a while about her lack of recognition for her talents and she’s going on the offensive once again.
In a Wednesday, Oct. 25 thread lamenting her frustration with how she’s perceived, Minaj wondered when female MCs like her will get respect equal to their male peers.
In any field, women must work TWICE as hard to even get HALF the respect her male counterparts get. When does this stop?
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) October 25, 2017
The greats collaborated w/Drake, Kendrick & Jcole b/c they’re dope MC’s. They collab’d w/nicki cuz someone pulled a gun to their heads… 😴🤣
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) October 25, 2017
Putting ppl in the same sentence as me after my 10 years of consistent winning. What are you teaching THEM? They’d never do this to a man.
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) October 25, 2017
Kendrick’s tweet from 7 years ago. This is so telling. And scary. I’d have to wear some baggy pants n timbs for men to openly give props. https://t.co/r6fEjSJZPl
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) October 25, 2017
Just realized. Moe niggaz hate nicki minaj than woman do. #yallniggazisreallypausewhenithinkaboutit
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) October 27, 2010
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The rapper’s Kingdom — her fanbase — wholeheartedly agreed and applauded her talents.
with people constantly trying to bring her down or her talent, she’s having to not only work for her own success but work for recognition.
— DASHAWN🦇🎃® (@PLZSAYDAPRINCE) October 25, 2017
Hell it does. Nicki is only hated because she’s a woman. Nothing more, nothing less.
— Team Nyovest (@BTeam94) October 26, 2017
They not even CLOSE to your level. You opened doors for these new girls & they shouldn’t be so quick to discredit or compare your legacy pic.twitter.com/lulfTt0zES
— Alluring Ivy✨ (@Drebae_) October 25, 2017
you’re where the bar is set. If they aren’t passing you, they get stuck & want you to ease up.
— NCJR. 💎 (@Nickk_Maraj) October 25, 2017
This is just one of the most recent times Minaj has spoken up about her struggle to gain proper credit, but she hasn’t always necessarily been irritated by it.
“I kind of love that I’ve had to go through so many hurdles to get where I am because I feel like I deserve it,” she told T Magazine in an Oct. 16 article. “I had so much going against me in the beginning: being Black, being a woman, being a female rapper. No matter how many times I get on a track with everyone’s favorite MC and hold my own, the culture never seems to want to give me my props as an MC, as a lyricist, as a writer. I got to prove myself a hundred times, whereas the guys that came in around the same time as I did, they were given the titles so much quicker without anybody second-guessing.”
And it’s not just Minaj who recognizes the challenges of being a woman and a rapper.
“We don’t get to discuss actual artistry. Technical skill,” veteran rapper Jean Grae told The New Republic. “Ninety-nine percent of the conversation is ‘what is it like to be a woman emcee?’ It makes me terribly depressed. Your whole life as an artist goes ignored. No matter how hard you work at your craft, you never get to discuss it. No matter how hard you push artistic boundaries, it counts for naught. Pretty sad.”
