Reasons To Love Nicki Minaj

Once upon a time I was a Nicki Minaj hater. Well, not a hater, but I wasn’t keeping tabs on her in my spare time. Truthfully, I didn’t know much about her except that she rapped on some pretty sweet tracks I enjoyed listening to like “Monster” and “Bottoms Up.” Suddenly, during one week in December, four different people mentioned to me how amazing Nicki Minaj is. I kind of ignored the first three people, who stated what I now think of as fact, but they all told me they decided this after watching her documentary on MTV. After the fourth time, I finally went home and looked up the documentary on MTV.com. By the end I was shot through the heart with a Nicki arrow.

No two female rappers are alike, which is what makes Nicki’s role in the hip-hop world so influential right now. There is no one out there like her. From her style, to her music, to her past, there is something mysteriously endearing about Nicki – even at her scariest moments. My reaction to her documentary was unexpected. When Nicki cried, I cried, and when she laughed, I laughed. She has an ability to play puppet master with her fans without realizing it because at every moment she’s just Nicki being Nicki, which is a multifaceted, strong-willed woman with talent, beauty and charisma.

Here’s a short list of why Nicki attracts fans like sticky tape for bugs.

She is human.

Being a performer can hinder a person’s ability to show emotion or any kind of normal human characteristics. Unlike Lady Gaga, Nicki’s stylistic counter part, Nicki has a sensitive side that she’s not afraid to show. Because of that, the whole world cares about her hardships. Between leaving Trinidad and her parents’ unstable marriage she has had a rough life, so when she expresses emotions you can’t help but feel sympathetic. Whether it’s crying because she wishes her grandmother could have seen her performance in Trinidad or the recent tragedy of her cousin being killed, everyone’s heart goes out to Nicki. How could there be even one person in the world who has negative feelings towards Nicki?

She has alter egos.

There are many things that are fantastical about Nicki, but how often do we get a chance to learn about the inner workings of a musician’s mind from made up personalities. Like anyone with actual Multiple Personality Disorder, each personality comes out depending on her mood. There’s Roman Zolanski, her enraged flamboyant self, and his mother Martha; Barbie, who represents her ubër girly side; and Nicki, who is just the regular girl you usually see on TV. She has a habit of making up new ones on the fly, but those seem to be her three staples.

She owns hot pink.

When a musician becomes iconic by creating consistency with a tangible thing. It can be anything from a particular move an artist does do at the end of a show to an article of clothing specific to a song. Barbie may just be one of Nicki’s alter egos, but like the real Barbie doll, hot pink is Nicki’s signature color. Whether it’s the color of her nails, her wig, or her lips, hot pink is always somewhere to be seen on her body. She has taken a page out of Lil’ Kim’s book and brought her role model’s look to a whole new level of edge. She might as well buy the rights to the color because it is now impossible to see or use or wear that shade of pink without thinking about Nicki. I am surprised that there isn’t a lipstick named after her yet.

She can be sexy without being scandalous.

Anyone who has seen Nicki’s video for “Massive Attack” may disagree with that statement, but she has been pretty clean since then. Nicki is the perfect mixture of Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliot, two of her biggest musical influences. Even though Nicki is generally seen in curve accentuating outfits that make her butt slightly shocking sometimes, I don’t look at Nicki and think, “That girl needs to put that stuff away.” She has managed to create a style for herself that is sexual without being inappropriate, kind of like her lyrics. She has a hard edge like Missy Elliot and Lil’ Kim while making a statement about her femininity.

Her music is viral.

If you haven’t reached a point where a Nicki Minaj song is stuck in your head, you obviously don’t listen to her music. From her rhymes to her chorus lines, Nicki’s music is catchy and, it’s hard not to pick up on her lingo. Since her song “Moment 4 Life” came out, I have turned the phrasing “I want to remember this moment forever” into “I wish that I could have this moment for life” followed by a string of “for life” under my breath. I also would not feel inclined to say that as often if Nicki didn’t come to town.

If this list has not convinced you to become a Nicki fan, or remind you of why you are already, watch Nicki Minaj’s E! Special online.