Catching Up With Nikki D, Not a Fan of Nicki Minaj-GangStarrGirl : GangStarr Girl

Catching Up With Nikki D, Not a Fan of Nicki Minaj

[ 0 ] October 30, 2009 |
Nikki D Talks Female Rappers

Nikki D

Nikki D was the first female rapper to get a record deal with Def Jam. Most of you may remember her from popular singles like “Daddy’s Little Girl,” and “Letting off Steam.” I caught up with her a couple of months ago to ask her the million dollar question which has become quite the cliche in hip-hop. Check it out:

She recently did an interview with XXLamg.com discussing how she felt about being snubbed by Hip-Hop Honors, based on a video blog she posted on FaceBook where people got the impression that she had beef with Foxy Brown. That’s not the case so stop instigating.

She told XXL:

“I felt like I should have been there as well. I felt like [West Coast rapper] Boss should have been there. Boss is the second female rapper signed to Def Jam. Foxy’s like the fourth. You got other women that were on that brand before. And I felt like that was a disrespect to everybody. I couldn’t vent for Boss and I couldn’t vent for BWP so I vented for myself. I [don’t] want people to think I was bitter. I wasn’t bitter at anything. I’m not mad that I’m not on the label. I’m not mad that other female rappers came out after me. I embrace the whole roster thereafter. I embraced every person that came including Foxy Brown, who turned out to be a really nasty bitch in the end. I was never a hater. I just wanted to make sure people knew my place because I really worked hard to find that place. That was my mission after high school to become the first female rapper on Def Jam. I was so passionate about it and everybody around me knew that so when I didn’t even get an invitation it just really pissed me off.”

The interviewer went on to ask her about what she thought of female emcees in the game now and she added:

“There aren’t any out! Who’s out? You mean, Nicki Minaj? That’s not a rapper. That’s a girl with her ass on the screen. Nice hairdo and she’s saying some things but she’s not a rapper. She’s not an MC. She’s an artist. She’s an entertainer. There’s a difference. She can go out there and open her mouth and say whatever but people ain’t listening to her. They looking at her. And rapping is about the skill. It ain’t about your fat ass. It ain’t about your set of titties. It ain’t about that long-ass weave.”

I’m not mad at Nikki. Making a female rapper successful is one of hip-hop’s biggest conundrums (and everybody has a different opinion) but what she’s saying makes sense. Nikki D is from a different era when rappers–male and female–were all about respect on the mic, and when it came to femcees, they were counterparts to the men as opposed to objects (hence Gucci Mane’s “5 Star Chick” and countless other songs).

In case you’re wondering what she’s up to, she’s doing well as a business woman. Once she parted ways with Def Jam she began a career as a marketing consultant. If you’re a woman trying to get into the rap game, you should reach out to her. It’s going to take the support of other women for the ladies to get respect again.

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Category: Hip-Hop, Interviews, Music, Videos

About the Author ()

Starrene Rhett Rocque is a recovering journalist who often fantasizes about becoming a shotgun-toting B-movie heroine.

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