I like that you’re willing to debate, but you can’t take one sentence, reply with your opinion, and then tell me we lost the argument. It doesn’t work like that.

That being said, in some ways, we absolutely see that Minaj can be viewed as continued watering down on mainstream hip hop by the corporate culture. That being said, we are “reporting” on a phenomenon, and in some cases, we do try and find the positive in it. Plenty of mindless comedies on TV that may be viewed as embarrassing compared to well-written drama and documentaries and investigative news, doesn’t mean we can’t watch and enjoy it sometimes. And it doesn’t mean it sucks, just because it may be lowbrow or appeal to the least common denominator. It has its purpose, it has it’s fans, and it’s still comedy.

We’re going to continue to disagree however, because we (gasp) don’t think she’s untalented. We find it hard to believe that a verse like hers in “Monster” can be called talentless, or “pop rap crap.” Sure, she overdoes the Lady Gaga imagery and overstylizes too much, but again, we think it’s a bit funny because we see parallels to Busta Rhymes’ early career in her outlandishness, but there was no outcry like this for him.

Look man, we’re just OK with some commercial garbage from time to time. Yes we want balance, yes we want more props for lesser known, better talented, less pop artists, but we don’t understand how there can’t be room for both. You can’t tell us by our coverage that we don’t respect purist/traditional/underground hip hop, but we absolutely stand by our assertion that we are allowed to like Homeboy Sandman or Dead Prez AND Nicki Minaj, and not be called some kind of sellout or helping fuel hip hop’s demise, especially when we spend so much time and effort ON OUR DIME to highlight those other artists.

Nicki Minaj does not represent the “destruction” of hip hop… Please, as if the years of thug-drug-rap wasn’t all about cats being picked up and pushed because of the same greedy corporations who found a formula that worked, the same ’90s NY hip hop that everyone claims they miss, that pushed out the Public Enemy and Poor Righteous Teachers of the hip hop world.

The bastardization of hip hop started long ago.

That being said, we just think there is nothing wrong with a guilty pleasure. For the past few years all we heard was gripes that hip hop was all the same, all that down south sound, nothing “new” and here is someone who owns her own lane and rocks it. Sure, she’s not for everybody, but neither was Biz Markie or the Fat Boys and their silliness, some people called Young MC and Tone Loc bullshit rap, many who wouldn’t consider the Beastie Boys hip hop, and plenty of people who think Jay-Z is worthless or who won’t put Pac or Big in their top 5.

It’s all subjective. You can hate the Young Money machine all you want, and we totally understand why, and in many ways, will agree.

We just don’t like the assertion that we are sheep, blindly fooled by some magical booty pads.

LOL…that is EXACTLY what she is, nothing but a gimmick that the sheep seem to think is talented, she has no right picking up a mic.

“But this is a bigger problem, one that male artists also face, and is a product of the uncaring commercialization of hip hop where your anger should be directed”

Again Minaj etc is THAT commercial garbage pushed by the uncaring corportations, why can’t you see this?

LMAO…it’s wackness like Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj etc that ARE controlling the culture and it’s the corporate labels that are pushing this utter wackness…so your agrument is null and void sorry Man.

Yes props on mentioning some real artists and giving them much needed exposure.

Where are the DJ’s and clever production in that garbage?, where are the references and mentions to the pioneers and vets in that garbage and do you think any of the Young Money crew helped Kool Herc with his surgery bills recently?

You are defending and supporting the type of Pop Rap that is destroying what Hip Hop is all about.

Fuck Young Money.

Eh, that’s too bad, since 99.2% of our site’s content is NOT Nicki Minaj or what you would call “Pop Rap trash.” In fact, did you read any of the “other” entries in the post? Would you suggest a site that praises the likes of Homeboy Sandman and Joell Ortiz, or has previously showcased work from Jean Grae or Kalae All Day, be one you should allow such a knee-jerk reaction to dismiss?

You are, despite your fervent support for a more lyrical, traditional hip hop sound, exhibiting the exact same kind of one-sided, close-mindedness that prevents the artists you think are worthy from being noticed by the labels and radio and corporations that continue to control the culture.

Although many will agree with your high-spirited attack on a Nicki Minaj, you sir, are not the arbitrator of what “is” hip hop and what is not. Here, we cover a vast, and diverse spectrum of New York talent, from Nicki Minaj to Jean Grae, from Fred The Godson to Jesse Abraham, from Talib Kweli to Joell Ortiz. While you can choose to never visit again, you may well be missing out on stumbling on the exact type of hip hop that you are looking for.

And if we don’t have enough of it for you yet, stick with us. We’re still young, and new, and understaffed and underfunded, so as we grow and can cover the vast amount of talent that we have yet to document, we’d love to hear more of your passion for hip hop sprinkled throughout out e-pages.

But if you’re going to judge and hold one part of one posting against us, then so be it. We won’t lose much sleep over it.

Hey J. Thanks for your comments. Nicki Minaj sure can be polarizing, we agree, though we think we made a good case for why she is, despite your passionate opinion, and many of our personal love for a more “purist” form of hip hop, still highly worthy of mention, especially in a year-end recap of New York hip hop as a whole.

That being said, we totally agree with you (and mentioned it in our writeup) that there certainly needs to be more exposure for the non-Nicki Minaj femcees who have as much, and in many cases, much more talent and significant content. But this is a bigger problem, one that male artists also face, and is a product of the uncaring commercialization of hip hop where your anger should be directed, not at those who do get popularized by the system, and not at an online publication who speaks on them, especially one who has also noted Jean Grae, Rah Digga and other talented female artists who unfortunately do not see the mainstream success that Nicki Minaj does.

LMFAO she is utter trash, a fake and plastic and highly annoying talentless hoodrat that went to acting school, horrible voice and “floww”, highly embararrsing rhymes and it is an INJUSTICE that this wackness gets paid and exposed more than REAL MC’s like MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Yo Yo, Mecca, Rah Digga, Jean Grae, Paula Perry, Bahamadia, Lady of Rage etc…why are so many sheep following this garbage?

and how exactly is a Woman fine if she is all fake and plastic?

Curry –

Good to hear from you, and always welcome your insight, as you operate from a mindset all of hip hop needs more of. Of course, much of what you say, I unequivocally agree with you. The objectification of women in hip hop has long been a thorn in the side of the music aspect of the culture. But for that matter, the label-driven glorification of aggressively violent young men, criminals and drug dealers has been as well.

None of this can be debated.

Neither can your insistence that female MCs like the ones you mentioned (many of which we also featured on our e-pages) are worthy of label/media love. I just feel that there is room in hip hop for a Nicki Minaj as well. To be honest, there are/have been far worse “voices” of women in hip hop in years past, Lil’ Kim one of them. Minaj doesn’t come close to Kim’s sexually exploitative nature/lyrics/demeanor.

To be clear, my main reasons for thinking she is refreshing/entertaining is less about her look and/or cartoonish antics. Nicki Minaj is nice on the mic, point blank, and she is creative, without being super-overtly sexual, and overall, to me, she is simply entertaining. In a female MC, I just don’t think any of that should be held against her.

But I don’t want this response to be a pure Nicki defense. She is of course only one tiny portion of what women in hip hop can offer. I love Jean Grae (she was also a “5 Reasons,” months before Nicki. I personally think Kalae All Day is star quality (mark my words), have told her so, and will feature anything she does on our site. (She was also a “5 Reasons” before Nicki was). But yes, Nicki has, for the moment, more significant milestones occurring, and I think it is noteworthy. Of course, the hope is always that someone drawn here for Nicki, discovers the “5 Reasons” series, and comes across Kalae et. al., not to mention the dozens of other male artists or organizations that we try and cover who are equally, if not more, worthy of notice than Nicki Minaj.

The words here or the support of artists herein will not shape the music industry, nor do I aspire to do so. I think what we at BP have the ability to do, as a unique type of new-school music journalism, is to participate in a positive manner in the already ongoing reinvention of the music business, which I predict will open the doors for a great many of the artists you, I and hip hop purists the world over are itching to see more of.

But while it is what it is, Nicki Minaj’s success is also highly relevant to me. Were we to specialize in Toronto hip hop, Drake would also be as relevant, and receive ample coverage, despite those who might not feel he is particularly worthy. I might hear similar concerns from you about perpetuating mainstream, womanizing, I’m-rich-you’re-not hip hop. I think we, probably more than many in the “blog world,” present a balanced assortment of underground, middleground, and above ground NY-area hip hop, though admittedly, we are barely scratching the surface.

All that rambling being said, you are absolutely right that the industry has silenced the many voices of females in hip hop, leaving, at the moment, only one in the proverbial spotlight. But that’s not Nicki Minaj’s fault. She still entertains me, and has managed to sell 1,000,000 records in a time when that doesn’t happen much, and hasn’t happened for a female MC in a long time.

Yes the record labels owe us more, but I also believe that ship has sailed, and trying to convince them, or spend time and energy lamenting the fact, is wasted effort. As the world turns to a new model of music consumption, new opportunities will emerge making it possible for these wonderful women to find the ability to reach the masses that the corporate labels never gave them. I hope that our site, and good folks like yourself, find ways to help this process along.

For the record, if we had all the money in the world to throw an event, I guarantee you our headlining female MC would not be Nicki Minaj.

But I still think she’s cool.

-Manny