It’s Barbie B*itch! (Extended Version)

Her hair is bubble gum pink. Her store-bought eyelashes bat rapidly and she smiles briefly before grimacing at the camera. Suddenly, she spits a verse in a jargon that sounds like a cross between baby babble and random phrases from a Tourette’s episode. This woman is perfect. She is Barbie. She is Nicki Minaj.
While many people disagree with the idea that Nicki’s body is ideal for women today, her image and images like hers are being pumped into mainstream society at an alarming rate. Visually comparing music videos of the past and modern-day videos, you will see that variations between the past and the present desirable female form are evident.
This isn’t necessarily a negative thing. Society hasn’t always been receptive of thicker body types. Unfortunately, one may also notice that many members of the African-American community seem to be more concerned with being desired and known rather than educating themselves and teaching the generation that is looking up to them.
Contrary to popular belief, Lil Wayne’s protégé, born Onika Maraj, may not be naturally endowed with the assets that make many men stutter. Minaj is rumored on blogs such as Bossip.com and Sandrarose.com to have gone under the knife several times to have her nose altered, breasts enhanced, and add poundage to the posterior young men dream about hunting and bringing home to feast on.
Nicki hasn’t ever formally confirmed or denied the allegations but if they are true some fans wonder what she could possibly be trying to fix or cover up.
Minaj’s lifestyle might have been exceedingly different before she walked the star-studded staircase to fame. Although she has publicly confirmed that she is bisexual in the April 2010 copy of Details magazine she retracted her statement in Black Men Magazine’s July 2010 edition.
A question regarding hip-hop’s progression to becoming “gay-friendly” was preceded with “As an openly bisexual rapper,” in Nicki’s Detail’s interview. Though the comment was not addressed in her answer, it was not negated either. Later, she issued the statement, “I don’t date women and I don’t have sex with women. That’s, of course, until Cassie comes available,” in Black Men Magazine.
While some of her fans are trying to figure out if she really tiptoes on the sexuality fence, others are convinced that she swan-dived on one side years ago.
A street video that was taped in 2005 by Cliffy Barz features a butchesque woman who goes by the name of Nicki. This ‘Nicki’, who is in the footage that can be watched on YouTube, eerily resembles earlier photographs of the Hip Hop phenom by the same name. She bitterly speaks about her sexual relations with another female rap-artist and calls her cell phone to prove it while being filmed. Minaj’s raunchy lyrics make it harder to believe that the mystery female isn’t her. She is featured on tracks such as Gucci Mane’s “Girls on Girls” using sexual innuendos to rap about women just as passionately as she raps about men.
Although these things are all debatable, after all, R. Kelly did get away with saying “it wasn’t me” when he was supposedly taped performing lewd acts with a minor, in a twisted way it all makes sense. One would think that if Nicki is a lesbian that, due to the taboo ideas associated with homosexuality, Wayne might have seen it fit to brand Minaj in order to make her more marketable to mainstream America. Ironically, the idea of Barbie—a plastic, superficially beautiful plaything—fits the bill seamlessly.
While most of her fans do not know about Minaj’s alleged past, those that do, evidently don’t care. She is climbing the Billboard charts, dropping a well-anticipated album on November 23rd and has graced the covers of several magazines. Today, it doesn’t matter if a celebrity is dishonest. They do whatever they need to do to be on top; even it means they may have to deceive the very fans that put them there.
The media is constantly being infiltrated by fakes. Ironically, many members of the black community’s younger generation are trying to perpetuate the very images that misrepresent them. This ‘if you can’t beat them join them mentality’ is fruitless.
Take a good look at the world we live in. Most of the African-American population lives in the city. Inner-city individuals under the age of 25 are more susceptible to fall victim to a range of unfortunate circumstances. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released statistics in 2008 that show that the homicide rate among black males ages 10 to 24 is more than double that of Hispanic and white males. National Public Radio reveals that the leading killer of black women ages 21-34 is homicide.
Scholar, Kunjufu recorded that on average, 100,000 African-American males drop out of high school every year. The highest concentrations of those dropouts are in urban areas. Although the high school drop out rate for black women is significantly lower than that of their male counterparts, they are still substantially higher than that of Whites and are slowly increasing.
The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation found that an estimated 650,000 American teenagers exchange sex for favors, gifts, money or drugs.
Recently, the Guttmacher Institute has reported that the biggest increase in teen pregnancy is in African American women. Eighty percent of most teen pregnancies are not planned and most happen because no contraceptives were used. Unprotected sex leaves the door open for sexually transmitted diseases and infections to prey on these young women who believe having sex and being attractive is important.
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, minorities who are going undergoing cosmetic surgery to become more physically appealing to the opposite sex has drastically increased. Minority patients made up 22% of the 11.7 million procedures that were done in 2007 alone.
Uncannily, the ASAPS believe that the media acts as an advocate for plastic surgery by airing shows such as “Nip/Tuck” and “Dr. 90210.”
The media seems to desensitize African-Americans to their hardships. If blacks fall victim to them it is not only expected but accepted. It is a norm to see a black man in prison or a female using her assets to get what she needs or wants.
These images are a couple representations of what many young people consider African-American success.
There’s a problem with that, especially in regard to African-American youth. While many of them are trying to live this fantasy, depression, a misconception of self-worth, a skewed perception of priorities and a lack of morals may just become their reality. Sadly enough, Kunjufu states that black inner-city youth are already predisposed to suffer from extensive frustration and chronic anxiety. It’s as though they are being pressed in on all sides.
Many of the people that tomorrow’s children are looking up to don’t know who they are because they may be trying to be someone else too. That leaves a small number of them to take these children out of the box that they can’t seem to get out of. That’s a scary thought.
Either the black community is becoming more and more obsessed with superficiality, has a thick wool pulled over their eyes or, perhaps, Nicki Minaj and artists like her are truly perfect. After all, she is, “Barbie bi***!”