Nicki Minaj - The Pink Print (2014)

more sexploitation, great 2014 theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO4xCfGO-XU sure hope it's liberating

*Sigh*

so very disappointed that the scourge of human sexuality has suddenly overtaken popular music this year

Note: that sigh isn't aimed at any of the discussion here, but at....that, above, and whatever this showdown has to say about where we're headed (or already are) as a society, etc.

Al, I know you're being sarcastic and that you're right, but this just feels so fucking empty. Maybe I'm just getting old, I dunno.

god j lo's voice is so fuckin bad

Jello's always been known for her butt, though. Not really jumping on the bandwagon, so much as reclaiming it.

woulda queued that up a lot faster without the phrase (featuring iggy azalea)

not sure if iggy or jlo know that putting your sexuality up front also involves making sure listeners know you have a brain, too. anxious.

granted we haven't seen the whole thing but i feel like this video is only playing to half the audience nicki's did

the half that wants to see honey poured on butts

now if there was some playful use of sexual iconography and pitbull pitching a tent, that'd be something

ha yeah, if anything this proves the subversive element of "Anaconda"

gobble-gobble bass

"I Luh Ya Papi" video already did the tongue-in-cheek gaze-flipping. Laughing at the folks despairing for society's future though. It's butts, you'll live.

word

ha yeah, if anything this proves the subversive element of "Anaconda"

― The Reverend, Monday, September 8, 2014 2:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you havent even seen the video yet tho lol

Dudes this album is gonna have the exact same flaws as her others, let's just hope Carter V is like 2 of the good out of the four tracks that're allegedly gonna be on it. Wayne's the biggest influence on rap that you seen thus far he deserves to go out on top

Having grown up with 90s mtv I'm not surprised music videos use sexual content to gain attention (still, hadn't seen the honey-booty thing before) but that doesn't make it an irrelevant issue, same goes for sexism in rap lyrics. Maybe the booty theme can be empowering/liberating but as has been noticed this J-Lo/Iggy song doesn't seem to be doing that. I don't think Nicki is either, but I respect that a lot of people disagree with me.

It shouldn't be necessary, but I'll add the disclaimer that I'm not trying to say that Lopez' self presentation is immoral or wrong, only that I don't think its intention (whatever it may be) can be isolated from the context in which it's interpreted, and I don't think it will help a feminist cause.

Sorry for not just letting this one go, I don't know why I can't get it out of my head.

have you read the articles that feminists have written about "anaconda" or nah?

Naaahhh, that would be too difficult. Women are just bodies for me to be looking at. They don't inhabit those bodies, or have personal feelings about them. That's too much for my little brain to get my head around. It's all for my gaze. And if it makes me uncomfortable, that makes it BAD.

also it shouldn't need to be pointed out but positing "are boys wanking to this" as some sort of litmus test for feminist credentials is extremely dumb on many levels

I read the Molly Lambert piece you posted upthread, and I found the points on appropriation/reappropriation valid, as well as the idea of "shifting racial standards of beauty". If there are other pieces you recommend I read, I will.

I don't agree with Lambert's analysis of Nicki as subject, because I think it comes off a bit one-sided. I know this is probably not Lambert's intention, but there seems to be a false dilemma between being a sexual subject or object in a quote like this: "And because Nicki is spitting rapid-fire jokes the whole time she is onscreen, it’s impossible to feel like she’s been reduced to a mere body." Surely it's possible to both come across with valid points on female sexuality or racial standards of beauty, while also coming of as a sexual object. Feminist tropes don't automatically exclude sexists tropes (and I don't mean that sexual objectification is necessarily sexist, just that it historically has often been).

I'd like to again stress that I'm not trying to second guess or morally judge Nicki, Lopez or any other female artists, just trying to understand their songs/videos in a context where a male gaze is predominant. As stated elsewhere I can understand the rationale behind sex-positive feminism, but I feel there might be downsides to it when used to "justify" videos like the above, when it's too disconnected from the common discourse - but of course I can also appreciate the attempt to affect this discourse.

back up for a second: how the fuck is jennifer lopez's butt a "2014 theme"

it was the theme of my birthday party this year

Jennifer Lopez' butt is not a 2014 theme, this feels like a forced misunderstanding, my comment was supposed to read like an ironic sigh, but should "Booty" become a hit (not totally unlikely) it would be the third hit in 2014 about butts (if we count "Anaconda" and "All About That Bass" as hits)

it was also the theme of this year's senior prom at a nearby high school

just posting here because i am contractually required to with my current dn

yes and come to think of all the thinkpieces on twerking in 2013 I guess it's just an eternal theme

i wrote a timeline of ass-themed hits a couple years ago: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/03/sir_mix_a_lot_baby_got_back_20th_anniversary.php

impressive! thanks for sharing

Honestly the whole in-your-face sexuality element of modern feminism is problematic/doesn't make 100% sense to me given the other stuff they complain about (I mean it makes sense mind, but more on an abstract level imo) and that's part of why I can't view all these popstars latching on to that part seriously, #1 it's a little too convenient and #2 you're not original, Xtina-era Aguilera already made all your same not-very-good arguments

maybe "Anaconda" video or otherwise is a little diff. but don't honestly care

those feminists with their complaining

yeah that was what I mean

smh at some of the reflexive response types here

Here's a shovel. Keep digging

i feel like the critical butt theory that has flourished in the '10s prob has more to do with race than gender

Having grown up with 90s mtv I'm not surprised music videos use sexual content to gain attention (still, hadn't seen the honey-booty thing before) but that doesn't make it an irrelevant issue, same goes for sexism in rap lyrics. Maybe the booty theme can be empowering/liberating but as has been noticed this J-Lo/Iggy song doesn't seem to be doing that. I don't think Nicki is either, but I respect that a lot of people disagree with me.

It shouldn't be necessary, but I'll add the disclaimer that I'm not trying to say that Lopez' self presentation is immoral or wrong, only that I don't think its intention (whatever it may be) can be isolated from the context in which it's interpreted, and I don't think it will help a feminist cause.

Sorry for not just letting this one go, I don't know why I can't get it out of my head.

― niels, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 08:48 (Yesterday) Permalink

Thank you. (Seriously.)

I love it when men tell women how to ~do feminism~. That helps the "feminist cause" so, soooo much.

http://gawker.com/even-nicki-minaj-cant-teach-vogue-models-to-twerk-1632916123

http://cheetahgirl69420.tumblr.com/post/97851461018/dirudo-broderrickstrider-make-this-go
via the singles jukebox cabal

I would just like to note that J Lo's "Booty" debuts at #18 this week thanks to her requiem for a dream homage with iggy

"Anaconda" is at #4, though

and a week later, anaconda moves up to #3, "booty" down to #45

ah well, they tried

lololol

can't say i'm at all surprised that the next single (released tonight/tomorrow?) features three dudes who still manage to have a strong pull at mainstream urban radio, including perennial hookboy chris brown.

what is surprising is that neither of her previous two singles did very well at radio, even on her home format and despite promising starts. like, her features (on e.g. rae sremmurd, trey songz, august alsina, bey) can still help boost a song up urban radio playlists and yet her own songs struggle and thus have to rely on meme videos for exposure.

like, yeah, it's clear that women lately are generally struggling for mainstream urban play, and can rarely get a hit unless the songs have shamelessly zeitgeist-y production or features from men (or, more likely, both, sometimes even multiple men as in teyana taylor's current case). singles by women that deviate from that template are doomed to flop and have indeed been flopping left and right all year (hello jazmine sullivan [already migrating to urban ac, where solo women can actually get played], elle varner, tiara thomas, k michelle's new one most likely). but i thought bey and nicki were basically exceptions to that general pattern. maybe nicki isn't?

yeah "Anaconda" really kinda flopped at radio after all the hooplah -- never got into the top 20 of pop radio OR rap radio ("Pills N Potions" at least went top 10 on the latter, but the arrival of "Anaconda" kinda

"Fancy" was huge on urban radio, Q was mostly incidental to the success of "2 On," but yeah otherwise it's been a really male-dominated year. especially glaring given the record-breaking run of female artists on the Hot 100 lately.

oof didn't finish this thought before i moved on to the other one:

yeah "Anaconda" really kinda flopped at radio after all the hooplah -- never got into the top 20 of pop radio OR rap radio ("Pills N Potions" at least went top 10 on the latter, but the arrival of "Anaconda" kinda ensured its stay was short)

i wish chi-raq had been a bigger hit than it was

would have some excitement for the coming one if chris fucking brown wasn't on it - already imagining the thinkpieces about nicki's "contradictions" that will arise from her having him on a song after the refreshment/feminist reclamation of anaconda

"Chi-raq" went so viral with all the freestyles that i was surprised they didn't try to capitalize on that and push it to radio the way Drake did with "0 to 100"

Nicki and Chris have done a ton of songs together so i would hope the thinkpiece massive wouldn't decide just now to manufacture that angle but who am i kidding that's what pieceniks do

i mean seeing as how itll probably be on a gawker media property or like, salon, chances are they will not be checking past album credits/features too closely, need to work fast and get DEM CLICKZ

def wish she wouldn't invite him on tracks but i also don't think it invalidates anything about her, and i can just see the hot takes and me headdesking in the future

"Lookin ass" got a decent amount of play in Philly

like, yeah, it's clear that women lately are generally struggling for mainstream urban play, and can rarely get a hit unless the songs have shamelessly zeitgeist-y production or features from men (or, more likely, both, sometimes even multiple men as in teyana taylor's current case). singles by women that deviate from that template are doomed to flop and have indeed been flopping left and right all year (hello jazmine sullivan [already migrating to urban ac, where solo women can actually get played], elle varner, tiara thomas, k michelle's new one most likely). but i thought bey and nicki were basically exceptions to that general pattern. maybe nicki isn't?

― dyl, Monday, 27 October 2014 21:15 Bookmark

cant believe how naive i was to think that nicki just put out a series of wack songs ty dyl