Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Rapper Nicki Minaj went on a Twitter rampage on Tuesday (July 22) after being snubbed for a “Video of the Year” nomination in the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA).
Minaj is convinced the reason for the snub is because she “was a different ‘kind’ of artist.”
“Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it,” she tweeted.
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I'm not always confident. Just tired. Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it. https://t.co/2xOvJzBXJX
— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
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The 32-year-old rapper-singer-songwriter questioned why her provocative music video for “Anaconda” didn’t get a nomination despite it breaking Vevo views — a record of 19.6 million views in a span of 24 hours.
The outspoken Minaj also wondered why her collaboration with another African-American performer Beyonce for “Feeling Myself” didn’t receive a nod, even asking if they missed MTV’s deadline.
Aside from race issues, Minaj said that body standards also seem to influence MTV’s list.
“If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.” The tweet was amplified by the seemingly sarcastically-placed plethora of the smiley face emoji.
Nicki vs. Taylor
Despite Minaj not dropping names in her tweets, VMA “Video of the Year” nominee singer-songwriter Taylor Swift responded to clear the boiling bad blood between them.
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“I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot,” said Swift, who was nominated for her “Bad Blood” music video, which featured her supermodel friends.
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@NICKIMINAJ I've done nothing but love & support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 21, 2015
Of course, Minaj answered back. She said that she loves Swift as much, but Taylor should speak on the issue.
Minaj also raised her point that when Taylor took her music off Spotify, she was applauded, but when she and Jay-Z launched music streaming software Tidal, they were dragged.
Fans rally behind Nicki
During Minaj’s Twitter spree, her fans and other users expressed their support for the rapper’s plea.
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nicki was making valid points about the history of racism in the music industry, taylor should be standing by her not making it about her
— becca (@margaerytyreII) July 21, 2015
It's
not even any shade to the other artists. It's just that Nicki is getting
snubbed for doing the same thing they're winning awards for.
—
King (@KingCaIeb) July
21, 2015
Some netizens even said that Swift’s response only showed how self-centered she is by making the issue about her and not seeing the point that Minaj was fighting for all the black people in the industry.
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@taylorswift13 stop being self-centered, it's disgusting. And now this is going to overshadow the ACTUAL problem.
— Bee Nyangani (@BeeNyangani) July 22, 2015
But, Nicki — being the queen that she is — won’t simply go down without a fight.
“Oh but trust me. I’ll be on that stage to collect my awards for vid of the year. Feeling Myself & Anaconda,” she said.
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Oh but trust me. I'll be on that stage to collect my awards for vid of the year. Feeling Myself & Anaconda.
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
She was nominated for the Best Female Video, Best Hip Hop Video, and Best Collaboration.
