(AllHipHop News) Nicki Minaj has become one of the most polarizing figures in pop culture. The Young Money rapper’s dedicated fan base of Barbz will ride hard for Nicki, but at the same time there are just as many critics that have plenty to say about her skills as a rapper, blatant sexual content, and use of historic imagery. It was two Minaj songs released in 2014 that gained significant negative attention – “Anaconda” and “Lookin Ass N***ga.”
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Some listeners trashed the single “Anaconda” for what they felt were elementary lyrics, while others took issue with Minaj’s decision to flaunt her semi-nude body on the cover art and in the video. AllHipHop.com owner Chuck Creekmur even published an open letter about the cover directed at Nicki for Madamenoire.
“Lookin Ass N***a” caught heat for what some saw as an unreasonable attack on men. Nicki’s was also criticized for artwork she promoted with the song that featured a famous photo of Malcolm X.
In an interview with Complex, The Pinkprint album creator discussed her work, the public response to the music, and how she handled the backlash.
On what she wanted to accomplish with “Anaconda”:
I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual but be playful with it. And I wanted it to be so melodic that even if you don’t understand English you could still go along with the melody and you would have no idea about all the raunchy s### I’m saying—I get a kick out of that. It was simple to write. I just created the melody and then I let the words happen. I started laughing when I said, “Boy toy named Troy.” [Laughs.] That whole song, I was just being dumb. It was a joke. My biggest thing was seeing how my girlfriends Sherika and Thembi were going to react. If they don’t like a song, they’ll be like, “No.” As soon as they walked in the studio, we were laughing and having fun. I thought, if we’re doing this, then everybody is going to have fun with it.
On Creekmur’s letter:
“Shut your stupid ass up. Bye, dad.” I laughed at it. But I also didn’t even know that that was happening.
On blogs writing about her:
I’m not on blogs, so I didn’t know. People see me retweet stuff and they think I’m some Internet person but I’m not. A lot of times, with the controversy surrounding “Lookin’ Ass,” for example, I didn’t know anything about it until it was so late it would’ve been crazy for me to address it. Every now and then, people in my circle will say, “Did you know blah blah blah?” People on my team know I don’t want to hear any drama. I don’t want any negativity. I don’t want to hear what’s on the blog. I don’t care.
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