Barbxit: Why Nicki Minaj is Losing Gen Z Fans
Photo Credit: Nicki Minaj
At a time when the rap scene was largely dominated by men, Nicki Minaj, a.k.a the Harajuku Barbie, a.k.a Nicki the Ninja, a.k.a Roman Zolanski, battled her way into the music scene and became a global rap icon. Everyone and their BFFs were found rapping along to Nicki’s bars, switching up their style to mimic that of the life-sized doll, and praising her for being one of the leading women in hip-hop. Her Barbie persona, eccentric fashion style, witty, razor-sharp punchlines, and unapologetic self-expression contributed to making her a favourite of Gen Zs all over the world. Even top Gen Z stars like Lil Nas X were seen to be super stans.
However, recently, Nicki has been on the internet and the news for a lot of “cancellable” takes and actions; thus, putting her long-held popularity among Gen Zs at risk. Because of the accessibility of social media, avenues for fans to observe deeper, more personal versions of the lives and thoughts of artists have been opened. Thus, it is not uncommon to find Gen Zs voicing their concerns on Twitter or other social media platforms about the toxic behaviours of celebrities and calling these celebrities out — in this case, Nicki Minaj.
Nicki Minaj has been seen to personally contribute to her own reputation-smearing. From leading anti-vaxx campaigns to using homophobic slurs, slut-shaming female celebrities and picking fights with her colleagues in the music industry, most especially female rappers, her mean streak hardly goes unnoticed. When she released Queen, her fourth studio album, and it debuted on the Billboard Hot 200 at No. 2, below Travis’ album, Astroworld, she took a lot of shots at him, going as far as saying, “I felt like I wanted to punch him in his f****** face!” She also accused different publications like Forbes and Pitchfork of being paid to write articles that criticised her collaboration with Daniel “Tekashi 6ix9ine” Hernandez, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to the use of a child in a sexual performance.
If her continuous work with sexual abusers like Tekashi was not enough to seriously raise eyebrows, then her marriage to one definitely did. Nicki Minaj announced her marriage to Kenneth “Zoo” Petty on Instagram — Kenneth Petty who is a registered sex offender from a 1995 conviction of attempted rape in the first degree when he and the victim were reportedly aged 16. He was sentenced to 18 to 54 months, but spent four years in prison. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served seven years in prison. She has also been vocal about her support for her brother, Jelani Maraj, who was found guilty for the sexual assault of a child in November 2017.
Nicki Minaj & Kenneth Petty // Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy / Getty
Amanda Tayte-Tait, 25, from Zimbabwe says:
“Supporting and marrying a man who raped someone is a hill I could never die on. Cancelling, for me, is refusing to finance, hence enabling someone’s bad habits and abuse. And yes, even if you don’t directly pay them, and you avoid streaming, and you illegally download their music, pirating has still been seen to help spread the popularity of artists and brands. So you are still helping them — directly or not. Cancel culture is meant to help with accountability. It’s not perfect, nothing is, but at least we have the power to take away, to some degree, a person’s influence and the money that they use in order to get away with abuse repeatedly.”
Nicki Minaj’s recurring feud with OG female rappers such as Remy Ma, Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, and more contemporary ones like Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Coi Leray, Doja Cat, etc, has sponsored the opinion that she does not really care about women, both “personally and professionally.”
“I had such unwavering love for Nicki Minaj. Yeah, I accepted that she could do with a few criticisms; still, I believe my fandom to be unshakable. But she just kept being unnecessarily snarky and mean to people on the internet. K Mitchelle and Remy Ma came out to say she was always trying to sabotage their careers. Then the whole slut-shaming thing happened. She married a sex offender. I just couldn’t be a fan anymore,” remarks 20-year-old Christopher from Nigeria.
On social media, Nicki Minaj notably fuels the embers of ‘toxic stan-dom’. She has been often accused of bullying individuals and encouraging her fans to bully people on Twitter after she has been called out for the wrong things she said and did.
There is the belief that an artist should not be “cancelled” as they should be judged on the sole basis of their artistic creation: “separate the art from the artist”. However, doing this would mean ignoring the various undertones of dangerous inclinations exhibited in their songs that they embody in their everyday lives. An artist’s creation is almost always a representation of their thoughts, morals and values; or lack thereof.
According to Zainab, 22, who identifies as ‘one of Nigeria’s ex-Barbz’, “I have loved Nicki since I was 10 years old. When she began to fall off, for me, was when she kept publicly supporting her brother who was in the middle of sexual abuse charges. Whenever her music came on, I would feel weird about vibing to it. I just began to find her morally questionable. However what completely cut the cake was her collaboration with Tekashi even after he went to jail on sexual assault charges. I just cut her off completely and with all her current drama, I definitely made the right choice.”
As a Black woman, Nicki Minaj has helped to deconstruct lots of stereotypes in a largely misogynistic industry. Her discography is one that symbolises her great influence in pop culture and her work in the global music industry cannot be overstated. Nevertheless, she may be inadvertently ruining her image. For many Gen Zs who are sensitised to harmful social issues that Nicki aligns with, the Barbz train is one that they are easily getting off of.