Never one to shy away from controversy, Nicki Minaj, aka the first lady of Young Money, dropped a record off the label’s new compilation album Rise Of An Empire and her third solo album entitled The Pink Print this week.
The usage of the great Malcolm X for the cover art however drew criticism from many, and according to Time.com, even resulted in multiple petitions being created, one of which calling for Nicki to stop “dishonoring the life and contributions of one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century”. Nicki (kind of) apologized via Instagram, and claims the usage of the iconic photo was never intended to be the official cover art for the song, which was also not an official single (although she did shoot an official video for it…but whatever).
Sidebar: Some have even flipped the script on Nicki, pointing out that Malcolm’s connection to the MC was far deeper than even she ever knew (and all this during Black History Month? Seriously?). Check the video below.
The song is a jab, actually more like a three-punch combination, to all the lowlife men out there that try to get at Nicki’s “Barbs”, yet don’t have their own stuff together. It’s a pretty tough tune for Nick, who possibly shoulders the toughest job in hip-hop— carrying the female rap game and keeping our lady lyricists in the limelight.
But no good anti-male song is complete without its anti-female counterpart, right? Playing the role of the Sporty Thievz to Nicki Minaj’s TLC was Cassidy, who confirmed his lyrical skills are still sharp after his beef with Meek Mill from last year subsided (I guess).
If there’s one thing that we can take away from Nicki Minaj and Cassidy, it’s that these two records serve as a vivid reminder to not just hip-hop, but the entire world that A) girls rule and boys drool, and B) that boys are rubber and girls are glue and anything girls say will bounce off of boys and stick to you.