Slow Roll, 2011

"If you could turn back time, Cher / You used to be here, now you're gone, Nair"

My left ribs are quite sore after yesterday's slip and fall ("Real Bitch. All Day. Uptown. Broadway") and I have a lot of Drag Race to catch up on, so I'll skip formalities. Many of these mixes from the early aughts make one thing abundantly clear: NICKI MINAJ IS CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED! #NOSHAME2025

Example: I took the mixtape image on January 7th, 2025 at Barbie®: A Cultural Icon, Art & Design Museum, NYC. It may or may not be my current style icon. I want to go back before it closes on March 16, 2025 because while I always loved Minaj, I wasn't as actively enraptured that day, no doubt related to her controversies. I did not notice the extent to which she was featured in the exhibit, but it should have been a whole floor. With impeccable cadence and charm, she honed the Barbie personae while being the greatest female MC FULL. STOP. PERIOD. She was deftly expanding the notion of a female emcee--appropriating whiteness in so many clever ways--over a decade before Greta Gerwig made the 2024 film that makes me weep with joy. Minaj's media related to the film, while appreciated, is insufficient at best.

The talent of Black Woman has been exploited and overlooked since the beginning of the music industry and Minaj is a victim in real time. Defending crazy family members? Girl, part of my is from Oklahoma. It's like The Iron Claw but worse. Indefensible Social Media? The same social media that is making us all insane and is especially bad for people of color? Get outta here. She's featured three times on this mix and Wave Ya Hand beautifully fades into an edit of Fleetwood Mac's Never Going Back.

So, you surely agree her legacy in popular culture is undeniable, BUT the GREATEST RAPPER OF ALL TIME is also on this mix. When I first remembered this mixtape features Heaven & Hell by Kendrick Lamar from his Overly Dedicated mixtape, I thought "oh, cool, but those aren't his best verses from this K. Dot era." Then I listened and guess what, they are on another level. I love Jay-Z and Naz, they are endlessly talented and pushed the mold of the NYC Emcee forward. The difference is that Minaj and Lamar absolutely broke the mold and we are still trying to figure out just how far their artistic tesseracts go!

TLDR: This rap mix is fun and a lot less intense than yesterdays. PATREON COMING FRIDAY! Please don't tell me if Sweets Jewels has been eliminated because she is EVERYTHING!