S. Samuel
Hip-Hop video vixen Gloria Velez has shared her thoughts on Nicki Minaj and said the rapper has only remained relevant due to her Young Money association.
Velez revealed her opinion of Minaj in an interview with Major Moves DVD.
“She’s a good gimmick, like she has the right team behind her. That’s it, because if anybody else put her out or she was by herself, it would not pop off at all … no matter how much plastic surgery or no matter how much injections in the butt. It’s not gonna happen. It’s a gimmick…Nah, I don’t like her music. Sorry. I can’t front…I like [Foxy Brown], I like Eve, I liked [Lil] Kim‘s first album. I think it’s a gimmick. I don’t think it’s real rap. Her lyrics are garbage, to me. It’s cute and catchy, but … it’s not hot to me. Some of it don’t even make sense…She can’t dance, she’s batting her eyes. What is that? Like the whole time onstage? That’s not a performance mama. … I don’t beleive she has the whole package. That’s my opinion.” (Baller Status)
Rap veteran Sandra “Pepa” Denton also recently pointed out Minaj’s Young Money camp affiliation.
“Not everyone’s role model material, but we do have a sense of responsibility because kids listen more to us than they would their parents,” Pepa said in an interview. “But [Nicki’s] young, so how’s she gonna enlighten? She’s new, she’s excited and what happens when you have a male camp backing you? Yeah, you might be singing those kinds of lyrics. That’s what happens when you have a male camp dictating how you should be.” (VIBE)
Recently, Minaj admitted to feeling awkward about some of her content.
“It makes me feel guilty because I know how I am with my 12 year old brother… very strict,” she said in an interview. “Every now and then I feel like I gotta censor it but censoring it too much I wouldn’t be Nicki Minaj. I think a part of what they like is I’m the naughty girl. The core people I was rapping to I wasn’t expecting them to be young. So all the stuff I was saying…if I was to do a show and clean up [and cater] to both sides of the spectrum, I don’t even know how I [could] make that happen.” (Hip Hop Wired)
Earlier this month, Minaj addressed her female rap critics.
“There are some that say something positive,” Nicki said in an interview. “You should be happy I’m here even though I’m showing you b*tches how to do it. But umm, I get more love than hate. So you know, it’s expected when people see there’s one person getting shine, it makes them feel unhappy with themselves. The small minded people feel unhappy with themselves. The intelligent girls take the things that they like from me and my journey and apply it to their journey. If I had it my way, that’s what they’d all do. Everyone is not going to like Nicki Minaj. Everyone’s not going to like the way I look or what I do but I think if you’re smart you’d take from me and figure out why everyone is talking about me. That’d be the ‘smart’ thing to do. I don’t think they know how to express that so they express it with anger, jealousy and hatred and that consumes them and I’m still here.” (VIBE TV)
Check out Gloria Velez talking about Nicki Minaj below:
