Why Minaj Needs to Stop Copying Gaga

White musicians have been ripping off black artists for a long time. Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and Eminem have all used black musical styles and repackaged them as their own.  These three acts have also become far wealthier and more famous than most black artist in their genre.

That’s not to say that Eminem is not a talented rapper or that Elvis wasn’t a great performer; but would they have had as much success if they didn’t copy a black image and sell it to white America?

“If I was black, I would've sold half, I
ain't have to graduate from Lincoln high school to know that” – Eminem, “White America”

Now that we are on the subject on race in music, I propose this question: Is it possible for a black artist to copy a famous white artist and achieve an equal if not greater level of success?

While there may not be a direct answer for that question, I do know this; Nicki Minaj is sure giving it a shot.

For those of you who don’t know, Minaj is the only female rapper today who can have a hit song based on her skills alone. She does sometimes feature Drake and Lil Wayne (other members of her record label) on her songs but she can make a hit on her own if she needs to.

While some have criticized her for her surgically altered body; I want to give her credit for being able to rap. Some people may try to downplay rap as easy, but it’s one of the hardest genres to build a career in, especially if you are a woman. There’s a laundry list of rappers who had a hit song one summer and then no career at all next summer (Chingy, Mr. Cheeks, Petey Pablo).

Minaj has the hits for the foundation of her career, but that wasn’t good enough for her. Nicki Minaj wanted to stand out from not just female rappers but all rappers so she copied Lady Gaga’s “fashion” style.

I use the condescending quotes because I don’t think crazy is a style. People like Gaga so they will accept what she wears no matter how outlandish it is. Normal people can’t wear these costumes so I don’t really consider it a style, its part of the Lady Gaga persona.

Rant over, back to Ms. Minaj.

I can understand her need to express herself in the male dominated world of rap but copying someone else is not expression, it’s cheating. And I hate to say it, but part of the reason why Gaga gets away with these outfits is because she is a white woman. People can gawk at her crazy clothes but at the end of the day she can take all that crap off and just be a rich white woman.

To White America, Nicki Minaj is already considered strange because she is black. She’s on her way to crossing over, especially after being on talk shows like Ellen, but to most white people she probably just looks like a crazy clown. She doesn’t need a costume to stand out; she already does just by her skin tone.

Also, if you do a quick google search of Lady Gaga outfits and then compare them to Nicki Minaj outfits, you can clearly tell who put more effort and thought into it.

I still consider Gaga’s “fashion” to be nonsense, but someone put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that nonsense. With Minaj I just get the feeling that she saw a dress no one else wanted and said “sure, I’ll takeone.”

I’m not trying to be a h8r, I just want Nicki to tone it down a bit. She can keep the crazy hairstyles, but the crazy clothes have got to go.

She can copy gaga all she wants, but that is only going to limit her in the future. Since Gaga started this crazy dress thing, it’s going to be easier for her to move on from that should she ever choose to. She could start wearing pant suits and her fans will still love her for her music and message because she’s an original. (Most of the time)

As I stated before, Minaj already had to move mountains to become an in demand female rapper so I don’t see why she would want to put herself in the “crazy dress” box since she’s going to have to break out of there eventually.

Why not start chipping away now?