Nicki Minaj and Cardi B: Here We Go Again...

While a global movement for women's rights to bring about an equitable society gains momentum, the bitter rap feud between Nicki Minaj and Cardi B is still a trending social media topic. That in and of itself should do more than raise an eyebrow in regards to its social engineering implications for Hip Hop culture, marginalized women within that industry and the plight of black women across America.

There’s nothing new about rap beefs. They go all the way back to Hip Hop’s cultural inception when the first Emcee picked up a microphone and proclaimed themselves the best. Regardless what career field of industry that we’re in, as soon as we claim to be the champion we’ve just created the number one, two and three contenders. Hell, that’s the driving force behind Capitalism; competition. We must not forget, Hip Hop came directly out of New York City gang culture and as an alternative to violence youth began to slowly advocate peace, unity and having fun superimposed over a new musical genre called Rap. Movements of social consciousness, youth advocacy and community outreach such as the Five Percent Nation and Zulu Nation are primarily credited with making this paradigm shift happen.

Roxanne Shante' and Marly Marl

The first female rap beef goes all the way back to 1984 to a young 15 year old girl named Lolita Shante’ Gooden AKA: Roxanne Shante’. One of the first females to be recognized for rocking the mic, Shante’s song inspired over 50 responses from both male and female artists. The brainchild behind Shante’s song was legendary producer Marley Marl who wanted to create a record for his Rap Attack radio show. Marl took the instrumental of the popular song Roxanne, Roxanne by UTFO about a stuck up girl named Roxanne who rejected all of the members of the group. Marl’s idea was to tell Roxanne’s side of the story and this song became the birth of Roxanne’s Revenge. Roxanne Shante’ recorded it off of the top of her head and this birthed one of the most notable battles in the chronology of rap music. Marl released it and instantly sold 5,000 copies throughout the city of New York. When UTFP heard it they issued a cease-and-desist based upon Marl’s use of their instrumental so Marl re-recorded it over a different track and sold over a quarter of a million copies. While there were various responses to Roxanne Shante’, with UTFO’s Real Roxanne being the most notable, the lowest response to this 15 year old girl was an artist named Ralph Rolle who recorded Roxanne’s a Man in 1985.

Just like the rap beefs we see today, artists got involved in the 80’s to get a piece of the action. However, things were much different prior to Rap’s Golden Era. Hip Hop culture, as a localized community of DJ’s, Emcees, Dancers and Graffiti Artists in NYC, functioned as such; a community. Everybody pretty much knew or knew of everybody. They went to the same parties, frequented the same record stores, danced in the same neighborhoods, patronized the same stores for supplies, gear and accessories and developed names and reputations for themselves as DJ’s, Emcees, Dancers and Graffiti Artists. Rap music wasn’t a nationally recognized and respected genre at this time and people had limited places where they could go to even hear it. In fact, rap was often referred to as "jungle music" and mainstream radio would not play it. From Hip Hop culture's inception, its elements were considered dissonant, vandalism, criminal and counter culture by the mainstream society. As the DJ and Emcee eventually took center stage as growing park jams spread throughout NYC, record labels began to see the marketability of a new music genre called “Rap.” While some record labels were genuinely interested in giving artists a platform, many simply saw it as a trending money grab. This symbiotic and often parasitic relationship between artist and record label began in 1979 when Curtis Blow recorded the first solo album on the Mercury label. For some, this environment bred competition for stardom and coveted record contracts. The rap beefs that did come out of this era such as Busy Bee vs Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte vs Antionette and Roxanne Shante’ vs Everybody were not vulgar nor did they result in funerals. Another difference then, in comparison to now, is that we didn’t have an international audience. Just like when children fight in school yards, the bigger the audience the more people tend to put on a show, today that audience is the worldwide web and social media. Instead of a few friends instigating a fight in a school yard, there are millions of people using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snaptchat and other platforms to instigate feuds such as this one between Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. People instigating fights used to be frowned upon in our communities but nowadays people make a living monetizing drama as talk show and radio hosts, bloggers and vloggers. So to see two young women who are within the top 5 female artists within Hip Hop today, tear each other apart in a male dominated industry that already marginalizes them is not inspirational or empowering for other women; especially young black women who are striving to self-actualize their potential. As artists, and black women who share a common plight in America, there is much more they could accomplish with unity. Willfully this negativity exposes them to the downside of public feuds like this and inspires them to humbly learn from elder sisters; Queens such as MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa, YoYo, Heather B, Monie Love, Boss and of course Roxanne Shante’. Not only can their wisdom help Nicki Minaj and Cardi B navigate these treacherous waters, but it equips them to teach and train the next generations of women how to effortlessly walk on those waters. Both of these women do some amazing philanthropic work in various communities and it would be beautiful to see more coverage of that, perhaps even on a unified front. This beef, past beefs and any future beefs are ultimately lucrative for corporate controlled Hip Hop and the thousands of businesses and gossip columns that make a living off of the narrative of our drama. Culturally speaking, in a community where the highest value lies in our relationships, this is not good for the brotherhood and sisterhood of Hip Hop.

Peace,

Saladin