How Nicki Minaj Actually Made A Good Point About The VMAs
Written by Coog Radio on September 2, 2015
‘Beef’ in music has been a reoccurring theme this summer, with the Meek Mill and Drake controversy being one of the largest. There was even the beef between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, but that was quickly squashed when Swift realized she was in the wrong. However, this past Sunday, the Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj took the forefront.
Now, this post is not to be similar to gossip site or anything like that. I simply want to give a music-related point of view on the issue. Nicki Minaj was hurt that her single, “Anaconda,” was not nominated in all of the categories she felt it deserved to be nominated in. She felt that in society, whenever two artists of different races make the exact same type of video, the white person is praised, while the African-American person gets no credit. This raised a lot of eyebrows, causing many people to comment on what was said. Miley Cyrus was one of the people who felt the need to make a statement, feeling that Minaj was only angry that she had not won in the past. At the VMAs, this caused a verbal dispute between the two, which sparked the media’s attention, of course.
Now, from a musical standpoint, Minaj has brought up a great point about the division in the music industry when it comes to artists being recognized for their talents. Last year, Cyrus came out with the critically acclaimed song, “Wrecking Ball,” and won Video of the Year. Minaj was not nominated at all that year. She did win a VMA in 2011, but it was for Best Hip Hop Video. She has yet to be recognized outside of the box of her genre when it comes to these awards shows, even though her white counterparts are. The songs by both artists are genius in their own way, lyrically and visually.
Do you feel Nicki Minaj deserves to be nominated outside of hip-hop categories? Is placing people in boxes just the way the music industry operates? Would the awards be won differently if Cyrus and Minaj switched races? I embedded both videos below, so let me know what you think!
By Micah McDonald
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