Nicki Minaj Shares Her Thoughts On Colorism In Rap
Nicki Minaj weighed in with her perspective on colorism after her former manager, Big Fendi, stated that her success had a detrimental effect on “brown-skinned rap chicks.”
Last week, the New York rap veteran reunited with her former manager on the premiere episode of his podcast, Big Fendi Podcast, where the two discussed Nicki’s career, their thoughts on the modern rap landscape, and what led to their falling out twelve years ago.
As the conversation continued, Nicki and Fendi delved into their thoughts on the prevalence of colorism in hip-hop. Fendi expressed his belief that “brown-skinned rap chicks” had to “work a little harder” following Nicki’s success.
“You set a bar for brown-skinned chicks….’cause a lotta chicks at that time was like, ‘Oh wow, well, Nicki poppin' right now. I gotta be at least trying to catch up to look like her somewhat,’” he claimed.
Nicki was surprised to hear that but agreed that colorism was an issue in the industry. Although, the “Super Bass” rapper highlighted that Black women deal with discrimination regardless of what industry they’re in, herself included.
“Dark-skinned and brown-skinned women have to work harder in any field. Just like how I feel being a Black women, you know, if a white woman and me was going into the same job at Wall Street, I feel like I wouldn’t get the job off the rip just because of me being Black, unless I was double and triple times smarter than her, and double and triple times better than her.”
She was quick to clarify that despite colorism in the rap game it was her talent that led her to the top of the charts.
“Of course, it’s me so I don’t feel like my complexion is the reason why I made it, but I also try not to be blind or play dumb to what’s really happening in the world.”
Nicki followed that up by saying that things are now changing for the better behind the scenes from what she's observed. “I feel like a lot of people are making it their business to be like ‘melanin’ and that trend is very much happening right now, which I love.”
Check out the rest of their conversation and hear what Nicki had to say about artists coming up today and launching her own label below:
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