Nicki Minaj on Thursday spoke out in protest after a report that her single Super Freaky Girl will compete in the Grammys pop category, despite her submitting it as a rap song.
She took to Instagram Stories after source told The Hollywood Reporter that the Recording Academy’s rap committee denied her request for the track – which landed in the top spot upon its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this past August – to compete in the rap category.
‘They stay moving the goalposts when it comes to me, because in order for them to uplift the people who they want to shine,’ she said. ‘The people who these corporate giants can make the money off of; the people who control a lot of things behind the scenes – they have to elevate someone that they profit off. They must move the goalposts for me, all the time.’
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The latest: Nicki Minaj, 39, on Thursday spoke out in protest after a report that her single Super Freaky Girl will compete in the Grammys pop category, despite her submitting it as a rap song
Minaj, 39, said ‘there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years,’ and that ‘soon, female rap will really not have any Black women.’
She continued: ‘This is not to say any song is bad or any female rapper is bad … but why is the goalpost only ever moved when it’s Nicki?’
Minaj said that decision-makers in the industry don’t want artists they have a vested interest in to ‘go up against’ her.
‘What do you think is gonna happen when they start voting on these pop categories and its a bunch of these people … white and older, wherever they’re from,’ to have to choose between her and stars such as Adele and Harry Styles.
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The musical artist said, ‘They stay moving the goalposts when it comes to me, because in order for them to uplift the people who they want to shine; the people who these corporate giants can make the money off of; the people who control a lot of things behind the scenes’
‘That’s purposely designed so that Nicki is not in the category that we don’t want any competition,’ she said.
Minaj said the rationale is, ‘Put here there so she has more competition and less of a chance to win,’ adding that ‘Black women rarely, rarely … a lot of time we don’t speak up until it’s too late – how you don’t see what’s happening.’
Minaj said the reason she’s not favored by certain industry powerbroker is because she is not signed to a 360 contract; and bad blood over a previous business arrangement with a label that had to pay her nonstop.
‘Excuse me Grammy board, tell us everybody that made this decision,’ she said. ‘Y’all, this s*** has got to stop. I just wanted to make it very f***ing clear that this is not good; this is a bad thing.’
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Minaj said ‘there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years,’ and that ‘soon, female rap will really not have any Black women’
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Minaj said that if Super Freaky Girl is classified as pop, then the Latto single Big Energy should be as well, especially since they have the same group of producers
Minaj said that if Super Freaky Girl – which samples the 1981 Rick James song Super Freak – is classified as pop, then the Latto single Big Energy should be as well, especially since they have the same group of producers.
She also took to Twitter with commentary on the issue, writing, ‘I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY. If SFG has 2B moved out RAP then so does Big Energy! ANY1 who says diff is simply a Nicki hater or a troll. I’d actually LUV 2 c a more street record win- male OR female! IJS rightIsRight.’
Minaj credited Drake for his past commentary on industry injustices and said more artists need to speak up on the topic.
Minaj has past been nominated for Grammys 10 times, in the pop category one time for best pop duo/group performance for the collaboration Bang Bang with Ariana Grande and Jessie J. Most of her nominations have been in the rap category.
