To Joshua Errett and Now Magazine,
As a religious reader of Now Magazine, I generally give it the benefit of the doubt on the few occasions I see something unsettling in your pages. But it would be unjust for me to not speak up against the various problems and disappointments I found in your recent cover story on Nicki Minaj (and reading the online comments, I see I'm not the only one). First, "a bad bitch"? Really? Would you call Margaret Atwood "a bad bitch" too, even if she addressed herself as one? Knowing your support of female rights issues, this is problematic at best, and offensive to me. Plus, 4 N's for an album that's "a scorching disappointment"? The review doesn't make much sense. Also, the article itself comes off as a cursory, promotional fluff piece, which not only fails to enlighten us with any exclusive new insight on Nicki, but also got it wrong by saying Lil Kim "has tried to lure her into a feud on more than one occasion". Their feud had died down for months until Nicki herself re-declared war with "Roman's Revenge", her thinly-veiled dis track featuring Eminem. Nicki herself first claimed it wasn't aimed at Kim, then admitted it was to Angie Martinez on Hot97 weeks ago. Considering NOW's support for hip hop music is generally inconsistent relative to the size of the culture both domestically and globally, it was both surprising and not surprising to see this story fail so spectacularly. And finally, "Most hyped new MC in hip hop history"? That's whoa. Yes, Nicki's debut has been very highly anticipated, but that statement is still pure hyperbole and exaggeration. The honor of most hyped new MC since 50 Cent was in 2002 can only go to one artist, and his name is Aubrey "Drake" Graham. Speaking of Drake, why has he not been on the cover of NOW Magazine yet?
In love and truth,
Addi "Mindbender Supreme" Stewart
No comments:
Post a Comment