Nicki Minaj’s Queen. | Photo: Twitter
People are criticizing rapper Nicki Minaj for lyrics on her new album that come across as homophobic and femmephobic.
Minaj is one of the world’s most famous rappers and released her fifth studio album, Queen, on Friday.
In a few short days Queen has smashed multiple records. It helped Beats 1 Radio get its highest ratings ever when she debuted the album on it. Minaj also just became the first female artist to land the most songs in Apple Music’s top 100 chart at one time. She currently has with 21 songs in the top 100.
The controversy
But the album hasn’t been without controversy. Minaj is getting a lot of attention for calling out other famous musicians including Drake and 50 Cent. But it’s her questionable lyrics about the LGBTI community that are raising eyebrows.
On the album’s second track, Majesty, she raps: ‘Who want it with Nicki now? / I smoke ‘em like hippies now / they see me say ‘Yippie’ now / home runnin’ like Griffey now / they switchin’ like sissies now / you niggas is iffy now.’
It’s the use of the word ‘sissies’ that has people enraged.
Defined as ‘a person regarded as effeminate or cowardly’ the term is often used as slur of gay men.
Song two on #Queen: “They switching like sissies now.” I’m really sick of women who surround themselves with gays but resort to petty gay jokes. The homophobia jumps right out. And Eminem is on the song to make matters worse. Yuck.
— Gerrick D. Kennedy (@GerrickKennedy) August 10, 2018
But the lyric is also a throwback to one of her older songs, Dead Wrong, from 2008. In that song Minaj raps : ‘First they love you / then they switch / yeah, they switch like faggots / that’s why I keep the llamas in Gabbana’s fabrics’.
Her use of the word ‘faggot’ got Minaj labelled a homophobe. She has since apologized to her LGBTI fans, but some are saying she has just done it again on Majesty.
‘[That] line was a direct response to a lot of online criticism she’s received for past homophobic lines despite apologizing for them and showing love and support to her gay fans,’ 24-year-old Minaj fan, Shahem, told them.
‘It’s definitely a reference to [Dead Wrong].’
Young Thug
Minaj also took aim at fellow rapper Young Thug.
Young Thug famously wore a designer dress on the cover of his 2016 mix tape, No, My Name is Jeffrey.
About Thug, Minaj raps: ‘Used to fuck with Young Thug / I ain’t addressing this shit / caught him in my dressing room / stealing dresses and shit / I used to give this nigga with a lisp testers and shit / how you want the pu-thy? / Can’t say S’s and shit.’
People criticized Minaj for femme-shaming Young Thug, especially considering hip hop is such a hyper masculine and homophobic industry.
Nicki Minaj’s LGBTI problem
Minaj has yet to reply to the criticism and despite apologizing for her former indiscretions, some are suggesting she has made one too many mistakes this time.
The rapper was attacked for not speaking out after the homophobic mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016.
More recently, Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness criticized Minaj for posing on the cover Harpers Bazaar Russia. Van Ness argued that if she was a true ally she would be more critical of Russia for its anti-LGBTI policies.
‘Nicki Minaj doesn’t realise 99% of her coins come from the gays and she has NEVER overtly done anything to support the LGBT community – just uses derogatory terms like ‘switching like faggots’ and now “sissies”,’ Queer Updates wrote on Twitter.
