On Nov. 26, hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj released her first album, ‘Pink Friday,’ selling close to 400,000 copies. On Nov. 28, MTV premiered Minaj’s documentary, ‘My Time Now,’ bringing in 1.17 million viewers. Yesterday, Nicki turned a young 26 years old, prompting media hype about her planned Las Vegas birthday. If you don’t know who Minaj is by now, you need to get out of E.S. Bird Library.

Prior to releasing ‘Pink Friday,’ Minaj released three mixtapes and, after signing with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint of Cash Money Records, recorded tracks with Usher, Ludacris and Robin Thicke. Minaj has found a strong support group within today’s music industry, receiving props from artists such as Jay-Z and Kayne. However, she still hasn’t managed to win over Lil’ Kim, and she doesn’t care to, giving Lil’ Kim’s career a desperate boost.

Lil’ Kim hasn’t been relevant since 2005, when she released ‘The Naked Truth’ and was sentenced to a year in prison for lying to a federal grand jury. Wait, she did appear on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in 2009, but that did nothing for her career. Until Minaj mimicked Lil’ Kim’s ‘Hard Cord’ album promotional poster pose on her ‘Sucka Free’ mixtape cover art, Lil’ Kim was headed toward being the next replacement ‘American Idol’ judge.

After multiple remarks about Minaj as an unwanted wannabe, doppelganger and copycat, Lil’ Kim cleared the ambiguity in a radio interview and said, ‘My thing was, homegirl got a nice little buzz going. It’s obvious I’m who she wants to be like. It’s obvious that she likes me and wants to be like me, but she’s not paying this homage.’

Lil’ Kim’s remarks angered more than just Minaj and prompted Young Money label mate and friend Drake to speak out in a recent interview with DJ Envy. ‘Lil’ Kim is a ‘G’ in the game. She’s part of an era that’s classic, that we’ll never forget as young kids, me and Nicki. You don’t have to get on stage and announce your presence and tell people to pay homage. That’s a given. I’ve watched Nicki pay homage to her time and time again.’

When ‘Pink Friday’ was released, Lil’ Kim took the opportunity to release a rebuttal to Minaj’s ‘Roman’s Revenge,’ which Lil’ Kim claimed took shots at her.

However, if it’s Minaj who wants to be like Lil’ Kim, why did Lil’ Kim’s rebuttal to Minaj’s ‘Roman’s Revenge’ track bear the name ‘Black Friday?’

Setting comparisons aside, both artists should be happy their music is being listened to and that not one but two talented female music artists are currently at the center of the media’s attention. Regardless of a ‘respect’ issue, Lil’ Kim is making music again, people are listening to it, and Minaj is unstoppable. Publicity-wise, the beef can only benefit the two artists in trying to make themselves household names. And in a couple of years, when the egos are set aside, I’m sure their collaboration track will be worth listening to. 

Amanda Abbott is a junior geography and IST major. She is the assistant opinion editor at The Daily Orange, where column appears occasionally. She can be reached at aeabbott@syr.edu.

Published on December 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm