I really enjoyed this blog post by DJ Louie XIV at the Huffington Post yesterday. He basically expresses his disappointment at the lack of popular female rappers these days using Nicki Minaj as an example saying that she seems content with releasing more pop-style music (he refers to it as "yet another shaded rendition of 'California Tik Tok on Last Friday Night's Domino') instead of hip-hop.
It's funny because I was listening to Young Money the other day and thinking the same thing. The first time I heard Nicki Minaj was on "Bedrock" and I remember thinking that she more than held on her own that track with guys like Lil Wayne and Drake and wanting to find out who she was. Now that she's seemingly crossed over to the pop side (it seems pretty clear that at this point she has more in common with Katy Perry than Eve), I sometimes forget that she was even on that song.
It's definitely not because a lack of talent. She's exceptional with her rhymes and flows and she's proved it time and time again. DJ Louie mentions "Did It On 'Em" as an example, and I think that's still my favorite Nicki song (actually hearing it for the first time on the radio was the reason I went and got her album).
As much as I hate to do it...I think I'd have to blame Taylor Swift for this. In my mind, "Superbass" was the breaking point where Nicki really started to turn pop, and of course it was Taylor who Nicki credits for introducing that song to a larger audience (of mostly adolescent white girls). Since then, it's been lighthearted stuff like "Starships" and little girls singing her songs on Ellen.
As a sidenote, can you imagine Sophie Grace doing...just about any other Nicki Minaj song? It would go from cutely innocent to wildly inappropriate pretty quickly.
Granted, I have no idea what Nicki's new album is going to sound like. Who knows, maybe "Starships" is as pop as it gets and the rest of the tracks are pure hip-hop. But I doubt it. I think Nicki's smart enough to know she's found a niche where she can be pretty successful. And I'm not saying her songs aren't good, just different. Good for her, but if she continues going in this direction I think it's a pretty significant loss for the hip hop community.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
After the Final Rose
I've made it no secret that Courtney was my favorite reality tv character on this season of the Bachelor, and of course, she won the show. And of course, she's been taking a beating from all sides since then.
To be honest, I felt it was unfair that Ben has been acting all shocked and indignant after the show finished. I mean, even if he didn't know the specifics of what she did or said to the other ladies, he had fair warning. Hearing all those things from the other girls SHOULD have been an enormous red flag already. It's weird that he waits until after everything's done to react to that. Something about the timing feels really disingenuous (did I use that right?) to me.
I honestly don't know how much of Courtney is acting or genuine (although I found it really amusing last week when she said, "I'm feeling real emotions right now" or something like that), but really I think most of the criticism is unfair. At this point she really can't apologize any more (and if it's not real now it probably won't be later anyway) and I don't know what her haters want. Ultimately it was Ben's decision, and for some reason people don't seem to be mad at him at all.
For what it's worth, I think she has feelings for Ben and this point and really does have trust issues with guys. And of course, Ben abandoning her did not help matters. It's hard for me to respect someone who does that and then goes on tv and acts like everything's cool. Everything he says just seems so fake and unspecific and, as a college student, I definitely know BS when I see/hear it.
It's been an interesting season overall. I don't have a lot of respect for Ben or most of the other contestants on the show, who find it totally cool to talk crap on each other and Shawntel but act so wronged when Courtney does it. But hey, that's what the Bachelor Pad is for.
To be honest, I felt it was unfair that Ben has been acting all shocked and indignant after the show finished. I mean, even if he didn't know the specifics of what she did or said to the other ladies, he had fair warning. Hearing all those things from the other girls SHOULD have been an enormous red flag already. It's weird that he waits until after everything's done to react to that. Something about the timing feels really disingenuous (did I use that right?) to me.
I honestly don't know how much of Courtney is acting or genuine (although I found it really amusing last week when she said, "I'm feeling real emotions right now" or something like that), but really I think most of the criticism is unfair. At this point she really can't apologize any more (and if it's not real now it probably won't be later anyway) and I don't know what her haters want. Ultimately it was Ben's decision, and for some reason people don't seem to be mad at him at all.
For what it's worth, I think she has feelings for Ben and this point and really does have trust issues with guys. And of course, Ben abandoning her did not help matters. It's hard for me to respect someone who does that and then goes on tv and acts like everything's cool. Everything he says just seems so fake and unspecific and, as a college student, I definitely know BS when I see/hear it.
It's been an interesting season overall. I don't have a lot of respect for Ben or most of the other contestants on the show, who find it totally cool to talk crap on each other and Shawntel but act so wronged when Courtney does it. But hey, that's what the Bachelor Pad is for.
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