The way Nicki Minaj and Hot 97 DJ’s keep taking shots at each other, it is clear that the Summer Jam beef is far from over.
By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
The Summer Jam soap opera continues as both camps take shots at one another in a series of candid radio interviews, and obvious tweets about the one incident that has left the entire Hip Hop community divided on rather or not legendary radio station Hot 97 did the ultimate diss to rap’s biggest female star, Nicki Minaj. It was a few days ago that Nicki Minaj’s histroic headline of the world famous Summer Jam was cancelled before she even sat foot on the stage, after learning that Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg dissed one of her biggest tracks and accused her of selling out and turning her back on Hip Hop.
The Young Money team requested an apology from Rosenberg in order to make ammends and go through with the performances that would have included Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil’ Wayne, Busta Rhymes and DJ Khaled; but Rosenberg refused to make an apology for a statement he still believes in.
And despite the recent interview and patching of the relationship between Funkmaster Flex and Nicki Minaj, Rosenberg refuses to apologize.
Rosenberg said the following regarding the situation:
“I need it be clear — I gave an opinion on a song. And Nicki Minaj and [her label] Young Money decided to skip Summer Jam. Because of an opinion, not a personal attack, nothing derogatory because she’s a woman.
That’s why music is so mediocre nowadays, because no one can give opinions. If you give an opinion, cats hate you, their crew skips your concert, they diss you on twitter, their boyfriends threaten to punch you in the face. Nicki’s boyfriend went on Twitter and said he was going to punch me in the face because I don’t like a pop dance song that his girlfriend made. My fans — and by that I mean, not fans of me, fans of real hip-hop, appreciated what I said… The world is not just Barbz. The world is not just 16-year-old girls. There are a lot of people out there who feel that they don’t like music like that. Not all of her music, the song that I specifically referenced. She’s had a lot of good moments. ‘Starships’ ain’t one of them, and it represents the opposite of real hip-hop.
Regardless of whether the time was good or not, the fact that she then pulled out and Young Money pulled out, means I will never apologize for that. Never.”
I like Hip Hop. No better yet, I love Hip Hop. But why are Hip Hop heads so arrogant to the point that they think no other genre of music is real music? Do we really believe that Hip Hop is the only genre that invokes feelings and emotions?
I ask this on a serious level because we tend to put our artists in a box, and get angry when they express any desire to experiment with other genres of music. Why is anyone mad that Nicki Minaj wanted to make music that expanded beyond the Hip Hop community and why is the desire to be embraced by other cultures automatically classified as selling out?
Who the hell made these rules, and why are we still trying to make artists play by them, when we aren’t even buying enough records to compensate them for their “realness?”
Lastly, selling out is a subjective phrase. Some say Nicki has sold out because she is making music 12 year old white girls know all the words to, but some of our ancestors would say gangster rappers are selling out the entire race with their lyrics that make dealing drugs on the street corner glamorous. And why isn’t anybody calling the wave of the materialistic, self-absorbed ignorant rapper that has our children ditching class and dreaming of studios and video ho-s sell outs?
Nicki Minaj came into the rap game with the same tired image that every female rapper is forced to take on ever since Queen Latifah and MC Lyte retired. In essence, female rappers have been selling out for years, as the majority of their lyrics are about blow jobs, being black knock off versions of Marilyn Monroe, bad b-tches and bottom ho-s. But no one has a problem until one of them decided to make music for the white kids?
I guess selling out is only bad when it’s dealing with white people.
Nicki Minaj may not be as gutter, as hardcore, or as street as you want her to be; but let’s not strip artists of their right to explore music in its entirety. Music is supposed to be freedom and self expression for the artist, so let’s stop putting them in shackles with our limited understanding of what music is supposed to be.
co-sign!
I just want to give a standing ovation! I so agree with the writer. We should not make artists feel like they can’t sell music outside of hip hop. Peter Rosenberg sounds like a hater, period. I don’t understand why they get mad at rappers for wanting to pay their damn bills. Who’s buying hip hop records today? I know i don’t.
This article brings to light a perspective that most (myself included) never considered. I prefer Lil’ Kim but I never really thought about the image she portrayed and the impact it could have on little girls until I got older. In a way, I guess we could say everyone who isn’t being careful of the message they send are sell outs. But we can’t really get mad that she stepped outside the box and it paid off big.
This man is childish. I swear everyone on that radio station has a vagina and a big clitoris. It is and never was this serious. If she wants to do pop music, what the hell is the problem? Her album was both rap and pop. She knew what to perform at the show, so this whole thing should have never happened. Let the damn girl get on stage and do her job without insulting her music before she even gets there.
Reading the statement above, it doesn’t sound like he said she wasn’t making real music at all. What he said was that it wasn’t real Hip Hop and his diagnosis of the song is accurate. It’s a pop dance track. Like you, the author, have pointed out, there’s no issue with stepping into another genre, but if Nicki is going to do that then she needs to stick by it. As far as selling out goes, the rappers who say ignorant bulls* have been saying it since they’ve gotten their big break. They got their fans by being stereotypes and they’ve maintained that image, so no, they are not selling out. You have people like Usher who have made 100% R&B albums making trance music now because that’s where the money is, artists like Nicki Minaj who used to rap harder than a lot of male rappers that are out now singing about “Starships.” That’s fine. Make your money. But when someone calls you out on your tactics, you can’t act like you’re offended. That’s the decision you made. Nicki & Young Money are being incredibly childish to react this way. Not everyone is going to like your music. Grow up.
So here’s my problem, why can’t she rap and do pop music? So what Hip Hop is a gang now and you have to choose one color and stick to it for life or be killed off by the mob? Please. It’s childish for you to say that a person can’t do two genres if they want to. Nobody told Lady Gaga she couldn’t, and her first album was a hit. That album had r&b/hip hop, dance, ballads, pop, etc. and people LOVED it. Hell I even bought it because I appreciated the diversity. I swear black people are the only group of people who don’t believe in multitasking and trying different things. And you may not like the Starships song, but you’re in the minority! You’re the perfect example of what the writer spoke of, you criticize every other genre of music because you’re close minded.
So what is real Hip Hop? Because now it’s starting to sound like if Nicki doesn’t rap about drugs or p-ssy popping she is no longer “real hip hop.” She wasn’t rapping about nothing in the beginning, but y’all are calling that real? I can’t really get with this side of the argument.
So rapping about gangs, hoes, and drug dealing isn’t selling out as long as the artist never raps about anything else? I’m sorry, but you sound foolish. Your entire argument is no longer valid because of that one statement.
Well according to your definition of selling out, some would find you to be incredibly childish as well. I’m not even a Nicki fan, but I see this whole thing as stupid as hell. Did she ever say Starships was Hip Hop? The DJ brought up a pointless song and he’s intellectually challenged for doing it. Even a 12 year knows that Starships was never Nicki’s take on Hip Hop. It’s a pop song and did what it was intended to do. Her album is a mix of rap and pop. What part of that are people not understanding?
I agree with Speaks!!!!! She is a sell out!!!!! But Speaks is wrong about the other rappers!!!!! If you help hurt your race with harmful lyrics, you are a sell out!!!!!!!
Oh sh-t. Let me grab my popcorn
I knew this was going to pop off. It really comes down to those that never liked Nicki Minaj even before the Super jam thing, and those who liked her or were impartial to her before the incident. No one is being logical or reasonable about it. Look, the girl was wronged, period. And she can make any type of music she wants. Lionel Richie is like #4 on the billboard with his first country album. Now do white folks have a problem or see him as a sell out? Of course not. And white folks also won’t criticize the artists and talk reckless about the Headliner artist. They get how business works. Those idiots at Hot 97 are two steps away from being shut down. It’s only a matter of time as it’s nothing professional about anything that goes on there. But that’s real hip hop, right? Violence, sexism, insulting artists before the hit the stage? As you get older, you start to understand that music is a business and artists have to pay bills too. Stop taking it so seriously and calling people sell outs because you’re still young and naive about the industry.
Hip Hop is dead. Let these artists move on to different genres and make their money. I don’t see what is the big damn deal when none of yall are buying the albums anyway?
“Like you, the author, have pointed out, there’s no issue with stepping into another genre,” — Like, I said, there is no issue with it, but if you make a pop song, then don’t be mad when someone calls it a pop song. If Nicki is upset about it being called pop, then what did she want it to be called?
“They got their fans by being stereotypes and they’ve maintained that image, so no, they are not selling out.” — I never said that being an ignorant person of color is the way to go. In my opinion that sets us back. However, they are consistent in their subject matter and do what they do to cater to their fans.
I’ve never really liked Nicki Minaj, save a few songs, but I defended her because she was a female and I wanted to see her do good things. But throwing a tantrum when someone says they don’t like your music? Leaving your fans hanging? Yeah, that’s not looking too good for us. And again, since somehow it wasn’t clear the first time, there isn’t anything wrong with making pop songs. I like pop as much as I like alternative rock and reggae. But if someone wants to make a pop track, they should own it.
THANK YOU!!! Best comment on here! Nicki Minaj is a sell out and she knows it. She should have performed anyway, and proved she could handle criticism. She looks like a coward to me now.
And despite all of this, Nicki Minaj GETS MONEY. Why are we still even talking about this?
What I took from the article was that it was an opinion. Whether people agreed or not its an opinion not fact. And honestly people have said worse things about Nicki, was it bad from a business standpoint to slaughter someone performing for your concert…yeah not the brightest, but for her and her camp to react just as dramatically to this comment doesn’t make them look any better. Too many people today get caught up in opinions. People are saying it whether you know it or not, but you can control how you react to it. As for twitter I am truly growing to hate social media, people are learning how to exist better in a cyber world instead of the real world. smh
My question is a little off the subject but why is Nicki’s successful and rich azz still dating a thug? Dude is always going off on someone on Twitter and didn’t he hit her in the face not too long ago? I don’t get it.
Look. I don’t rock wit Nicki, but as a woman, I can sit here and admit what was done to her was wrong. Are we going to really sit here and act like what was done was professional? It was extremely unprofessional and I don’t see anything like this going down with white people. Crabs in a barrel. Always.