Nicki Minaj: From Super Violent to Super Barbie?

I will be reviewing Nicki Minaj's Beam Me Up Scotty Mixtape for this post.

Listen to the mixtape or download it here:

http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/10302/nicki_minaj_beam_me_up_scotty.html

Background Information:

• Birth name: Onika Tanya Maraj
• Birthplace: Southside Jamaica, Queens, NewYork
• Influences: Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, and Lauryn Hill 
• How long has she been doing music: Since 2004
• Type of Artist: Underground
• Genre(s): Hip-hop and R&B
• Current Label (s): Young Money/ Universal Motown 
• Similar Artists: Trina, Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, and Remy Ma
• Fun Fact: She makes up her own words, and adds them to her Nictionary. http://nickiminajfans.com/nictionary

              Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8, 1984. Maraj grew up with an abusive, drug addicted, and alcoholic father; her mother was a single parent. Miraj is a trained writer, singer, and actress. She started her music career by singing background vocals and hooks for local rappers. Dirty Money CEO Fendi found her on MySpace, and later signed her to the Dirty Money label. Lil’ Wayne noticed her on the Dirty Money DVD series, so he contacted Fendi about her. Lil’ Wayne signed her because she wrote her own songs and had a different style of rapping. Miraj started refers to herself as Minaj because she was “eating chicks” with her vicious rap skills. Nicki Minaj does things, like the pose seen on the picture below,  to “pull people in” to listen to what she has to say. 

 Minaj has released three mixtapes Playtime Is Over (2007), Sucka Free (2008), and Beam Me Up Scotty (2009). She is set to release her currently untitled debut album in fall 2010. Minaj is currently nominated for Best Female Artist, and three other BET Awards. 

Introduction:

             Nicki Minaj is a Mixtape Queen because she has yet to release a mainstream album; she has two singles. Yet, she is gaining a lot of notoriety. Women are getting pink hair that resembles hers. Women and men are referring to themselves as harajuku barbz (Barbies) and kens, which are both terms she made up. I listen to her mixtapes, and I was angered because when she transitioned back to mainstream she went from talking a lot about violent acts (underground) to talking more and being more like a Barbie (mainstream). 

Favorite Lyric: Go Hard- “I’m a be the queen no matter how they shuffle” http://www.lyricsmania.com/go_hard_lyrics_nicki_minaj.html

Top 3 Tracks: (This list is ordered from the song I like most to the song I like least.)

1. Can Anybody Hear Me- I like her metaphors, delivery, the instrumental, and the sincerity in this song. She talks about her personal problems in this song which makes it easy to relate to her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFX3phUlc4c&feature=related       
2. 
   
   Go Hard- This song conveys she is determined to accomplish her goals, and willing to go against anyone that stands in her way. This is a favorite because it shows a lot of her character, the featured artist Lil’ Wayne adds some character to the song as well.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD9P9EvFcew&feature=related  
3. Keys Under Palm Trees- Nicki Minaj ties her background of being in the streets into this song, but she also has sentimental lyrics. She sings and raps on this song. Therefore, it shows different aspects of her character.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGbuVLpoXio

Bottom 3 Tracks: (This list is ordered from the song I dislike most to the song I dislike least.)

1. I Feel Free- I do not like the parts of the song that are auto-tuned, which is most of the song. I am not an auto-tune hater, but it did diminish the value of this song for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7x6r8Pww7E&feature=related
2. Envy- I dislike this track because I don’t like the way she chose to sing on it. Also, some of the background vocals she did were distracting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiWUtlI8Xlw&feature=related
3. Best I Ever Had- Some songs are better in their original versions, and feature artist can tend to get on them and diminish the value. I liked this song more without Nicki Minaj’s additions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkF16uO4R-c

Overview:
             I recommend the Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape to people that enjoy rap and hip-hop, especially if you like female rappers. This mixtape lets you see Nicki Minaj in multiple ways which include: playful, confident, competitive street, girly, singer, rapper, and sentimental. She has a song intro in which she says “You know behind every bad [woman] there’s a really sweet girly girl.” As for me thinking she is being more girly while doing mainstream, this mixtape made me realize maybe that’s the side she wants to show to the public at the moment.  

Other Nicki Minaj Related Links:

http://nickiminajfans.com/music

http://www.nicki-minaj.us/

http://nicki-minaj.org/

http://www.mahalo.com/nicki-minaj

http://twitter.com/nickiminaj