Nicki Minaj has vented her frustration on social media tonight at the Grammy awarding organization, the Recording Academy. The group decided today that Nicki Minaj’s most recent song, “Super Freaky Girl,” does not meet the criteria to compete as a rap song at the annual awards ceremony and must be placed in the “pop” category.
It’s an odd choice considering how well-liked “Super Freaky Girl” is right now on Billboard’s rap charts and how, despite heavily sampling Rick James’ “Super Freak,” “Super Freaky Girl” also emphasizes Nicki Minaj’s rapping. a lot, almost.
This evening, Minaj posted on Twitter and Instagram to criticize a decision she obviously sees as exhibiting a double standard. She wrote, “I have no prob getting moved out of the RAP category as long as we r ALL being handled FAIRLY.” She criticized Latto’s song “Big Energy” in particular for being more of a pop song than her own, arguing that if “Super Freaky Girl” was made into a movie, “Big Energy” ought to follow suit. We are told that anyone who disagrees “is either a Nicki hater or a troll.”
The disparity was brought to light by Billboard itself tonight, which is understandable considering that the business has already determined rather conclusively that the song in which Nicki Minaj raps substantially is a freestyle song.
It has been noted by others that MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” which is similarly propelled by James’ undeniably catchy hook, was easily accepted for Best Rap Performance back in 1990, thus it is likely not only an issue of the song having a particularly pop-y beat.
On November 15, the Grammy nominees are expected to be announced. This is not the first time Minaj has taken offense at the notion that a song of hers isn’t “real rap,” as THR notes; a few years ago, she pulled out of a concert hosted by Hot 97 after host Peter Rosenberg made similar remarks about “Starships.”
Minaj’s music occasionally blurs the line between pop and more traditional rap. Latto was the target of her ire tonight; Minaj tweeted a number of DMs from the “Big Energy” rapper begging for features, accused her of being manipulative, and overall started what is shaping up to be a fairly nasty fight.
