Ice-T Freezes Nicki Minaj’s Barbies, “She Throws Her Voice In Different Directions, But She’s No Lil’ Kim”

Written By S. Samuel

Rap veteran Ice-T recently spoke up for Young Money's Nicki Minaj in light of receiving some crticism for the sound of her music welcoming in a pop-oriented audience and said the "Barbie" is reaching new industry heights.

Nicki Minaj
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Asked for his take on the recent Hot 97 Summer Jam dispute, Ice said people have to respect Minaj’s growth as an artist.

“I think it’s all “real hip-hop.” You have the core hip-hop, which would just be beats and breaks, more something like what you hear with DJ Premier. Then you get into the more highly produced hip-hop, which is something like what DJ Khaled does. But at some point, it starts to get kind of pop. It goes into this other realm,” Ice explained. “Nicki went on tour with Britney Spears, so she’s on another channel. But to me, it all comes from hip-hop; it’s like a growth of hip-hop, whether you agree with that growth or not. Like me, I’m not the biggest Nicki Minaj fan but I think she can rhyme. She does her thing. She has her own way of doing it. She has an ill vocal delivery. She kind of reminds me of a female Busta Rhymes, like how she throws her voice in different directions – but she’s no Lil Kim. I think when people say “real hip-hop,” they want it more buried in the streets. They want it more connected to the streets and the grime and the roughness of the streets. They don’t want the fluff.” (Rolling Stone)

Former “Yo! MTV Raps” co-host Ed Lover recently shared a similar stance toward Minaj.

“You can’t look at anybody that crosses over and achieves pop appeal as a sellout, because that’s what you’re trying to do when you put a record out,” Ed Lover said. “So if Nicki Minaj ain’t real hip-hop, then Public Enemy wasn’t real hip-hop, then Run-DMC wasn’t real hip-hop, then Eminem ain’t real hip-hop.” (MTV)

Last week, Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg explained calling out Minaj’s “Starships” record prior to her slated Summer Jam performance.

“In addition to the morning show, I do an underground show on Sunday nights, I host all of our showcases, I interview underground artists at my house, that’s kind of who I am,” Rosenberg said. “So when I went out there, I wasn’t really thinking about it, I was just trying to hype up all of the fans who were there to see Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, more of the underground acts. It just sort of came out. I did not anticipate the backlash.” (TMZ)

She has since come forward to discuss what went down and called Rosenberg out for showing disrespect to one of the only female artists billed to perform.

“I wasn’t going to do ‘Starships’ and I think everybody knows that,'” Minaj told hosts DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha God and Angela Yee. “I’m way smarter than that. I know what people wanted to see. I think it was just someone trying to be sarcastic — it was improper timing, it was in bad taste. Everybody makes mistakes but you’ve got to own your mistake. That’s the problem. When you don’t own it, then people feel like, ‘Oh, okay, you feel like you can do this in the future and get away with it,’ and that’s the problem. … I don’t want an apology. I don’t care about an apology. … ” (“The Breakfast Club”)

Check out a recent Nicki Minaj interview below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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