In Go for Yours I talk about showing people your talents instead of sitting around talking about how talented you are. I use WNBA Los Angeles Sparks, player Candace Parker as an example of this phrase. In addition, I add a Nicki Minaj lyric from the Ludacris song, My Chick is Bad. “Trash talk em, then I put em in a hefty, running down the court, I’m dunkin on em–Lisa Leslie.” I love this verse because it makes me think about how so many people criticized Nicki Minaj at the beginning of her career (including myself) but she did not bow down to any negative comments, she chose to show people her talents rather than sit around talking about them.
I heard her name before I actually really sat down and listened to her lyrics. I have to admit, I was one of the people who jumped on the Nicki Minaj bandwagon after she made her mark in the Hip Hop industry. I became more aware of her while I was mentoring a group of young ladies. All of who looked up to her. By that time I only knew of the Young Money song she was featured in, “Bed Rock.” I wasn’t too fond of the fact that young girls were singing her lyrics and wanting to be like her. I remember telling them, “she ain’t nothing but Lil Kim in my day!” One of the girls quickly corrected me. “Miss McCall.” She argued. "You don’t understand, Nicki Minaj is good! Everyone is saying she’s a Little Kim wanna be, but she actually has a story of her own you need to listen to her!” I let the young girl argue her case, but I was not convinced. Soon after, I was on the phone with my home girl Sheedz having the same conversation I had with the young girls. With her being my peer, I thought she would agree with me. She was the exact opposite. “Man, people need to stop hatin on Nicki Minaj.” She said it with a lot of passion. “People accepted Missy Elliot when she was in a garbage bag yelling, heheheha, heheheha!” I laughed at her but I still wasn’t convinced.
When I watched a special on BET about female rappers, I felt someone finally agreed with me. There were numerous women who didn’t understand where Nicki Minaj was coming from and in so many words they were saying they didn’t understand her purpose in the hip-hop industry. Yes, it is true Nicki’s style was unusual and most people expected her to be raunchy but instead of wasting time telling people she was a force not to be reckoned with, she PROVED it!
I started to change my opinion of Nicki and when she spit her verse on the Ludacris song, My Chick is Bad, I had a new respect for her lyrical content. I was impressed with her witty verse and creative energy. I loved every part of it and would get mad at any DJ who didn’t play the entire song when they played it at a party. When she spit her 16 on Drake’s debut album, So far So Gone, I was sold. I even recall driving in my car spittin the verses as hard as she did on the track, and noticing people who were standing at the bus stop applauding me for my performance and singing along. By the time she was featured on the Kanye West track, “Monster” I had no choice but to respect her. Not only was her verse cold but, she was on a song with one of the most respected rap artists and my personal favorite, Kanye West. Yea, I was trippin, that chick is bad! I thought to myself. She’s authentic and has her own style.
When Nicki’s album Pink Friday debuted, I was one of the first people in line at Best Buy to purchase a copy. I laugh at the thought of not liking her when I first heard her. I was so quick to judge her with out even giving her a real chance. But she said it best in her song Fly featuring Rihanna, "I hear the criticism loud and clear, that’s how I know that the time is near" Nicki didn’t allow any negativity to block her from flying and in return she sold over one million copies of her first album and became the first female rapper since the rapper Eve, to have a number one hip hop album in the country, something hip-hop hadn’t seen in 12 years. Since she chose to ignore the haters she now possesses a variety of Image Awards, BET Awards and Billboard Awars. After I became a fan of Nicki’s I went back and listened to “Bed Rock” and had a new respect for her delivery in the song. I mean, any girl can relate to being pressed like button downs on a Friday night! The fact that I criticized her before giving her a chance made me feel bad that I didn’t take out the time to learn about Onika Tanya Miraj, who followed her passion despite the adversity she faced in her personal life and her career.
When you Go for Yours you will approach time when you are criticized by people who don’t see your vision. Allow the haters to give you more fuel to do what you are aspiring to do. Make sure you think about Nicki Minaj who didn’t care what people thought of her and continued to do her thing telling people, Yes, I’m a beast and I feast when I conquer!
Nicki's interview with billboard.com
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