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The mid-aughts had been a bloodbath.
Lil Kim and Remy Ma went to jail.
Foxy Brown lost her hearing and Def Jam deal.
Eve pivoted to television.
Hip-hop has always had a finite number of positions of power open to women.
Its been this way for her ever since, opposing factions tugging her in equal and opposite directions.
As queenships go, Nicki Minaj is running shit like Hillary Clinton.
Theres a Bonnie and Clyde air that didnt exist when she was dating Safaree or Meek Mill.
It wants you to feel like all the other brands are knockoffs.
The sentiment surfaces at unlikely moments.
A sequel doesnt need to re-create all the unique conditions of the original work.
She can preen over Blondie and Cyndi Lauper tracks.
She can go bar for bar with Lil Wayne over slick crossover fodder like RNB.
Several things can be true.
But this does not excuse anyone from wielding their fandom like bullets in the chamber of a gun.
Infighting only reinforces the notion that only so many women can have a spot in the industry.
A common side effect of that Big Apple audaciousness is a reputation for querulousness and divisiveness.
It can be a gift U mad!
and a curse Sad!
From the White House to the corner store, hurt feelings are politics as usual.
Nicki is a queen for her time, a period of growing unrest and uncorked insensitivity.
Who can trust that this rhetoric will always fall on reasonable and discerning ears?
When Kim got locked up, banter on records graduated into real violence.
She refused to snitch, and her major-label career never recovered from her time on the sideline.
You entertain the darkest outcomes when you chat the wildest shit.
(Who suffers when rap beef explodes?
Spoiler: everyone.)
The music drips with the annoyed realization that running a kingdom means building and defending walls.
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