Nicki Minaj: When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

I never thought I would EVER do a post about Nicki Minaj here, as there is plenty of ink or HTML ink being spilled on a daily basis for her. However, as much as I am not a fan of her YMCMB run of musical theater, at one point in her history she was repping as a sort of slightly more lyrical, Queens version of Trina and promoting herself with no neon wigs, fake British accent, no alter-egos or lingerie outfits. She seemed like she might be forever underground or at least a female MC that tried to be of the Eve (Ruff Ryders) approach, a "down chick" who could rap.

 Somewhere along the line, all of her skills were transformed into the "sideshow clown" routine currently polluting the airwaves with nonsense and earning the "idiot stamp" from Pepsi to commercialize her "routine" to sell soda. The video above does have some pre-fame verses of money and tough talk, but if she earned her stripes from repping this former version of herself and turning that into her source of fame, perhaps I would be willing to not "punch the TV or turn off the radio" every time I see or hear her on it.

 I am glad to have seen Lauryn Hill in her prime and have yet to see any popular female MC ever "hold it down" like L-Boogie did. I know it has been too long for her to make a comeback, but even if her next album is 20 years from now, it will still be more honest then the current trend of "Barbie rap" floating around in 2012.

 Like Biggie said "Things Done Changed".