Okay so I know we just talked about Rihanna in Vanity Fair, but I don’t make the editorial schedules for major print publications, you guys, so we’re all just going to have to deal with it.
Enter: Nicki Minaj has been profiled in the New York Times, and the result is absolutely amazing.
Speaking on everything from Miley Cyrus to the Meek Mill/Drake beef to drama in general, the rapper laid it all out for writer Vanessa Grigoriadis, and man oh man . . . oh man. Yes.
“The fact that you feel upset about me speaking on something that affects black women makes me feel like you have some big balls,” she said, recalling Cyrus’ dismissive and ignorant comments regarding Nicki’s tweets about her VMA snub back in August. “You’re in videos with black men, and you’re bringing out black women on your stages, but you don’t want to know how black women feel about something that’s so important? Come on, you can’t want the good without the bad. If you want to enjoy our culture and our lifestyle, bond with us, dance with us, have fun with us, twerk with us, rap with us, then you should also want to know what affects us, what is bothering us, what we feel is unfair to us. You shouldn’t not want to know that.”
See? Yes. Emoji hands of alleluia and amen and appreciation.
But on top of this, for me my favourite part of the interview is the way Minaj responds to Grigoriadis after being asked whether she thrives on drama.
“That’s disrespectful,” she responds. “Why would a grown-ass woman thrive off drama?”
“What do the four men you just named have to do with me thriving off drama?” she continued, referring to the Drake, Meek Mill, Lil Wayne, and Bryan Williams. “Why would you even say that? That’s so peculiar. Four grown-ass men are having issues between themselves, and you’re asking me do I thrive off drama?”
“That’s the typical thing that women do. What did you putting me down right there do for you? Women blame women for things that have nothing to do with them. I really want to know why — as a matter of fact, I don’t. Can we move on, do you have something else to ask? To put down a woman for something that men do, as if they’re children and I’m responsible, has nothing to do with you asking stupid questions, because you know what that’s not a stupid question. That’s a premeditated thing you just did. Do not speak to me like I’m stupid or beneath you in any way. I don’t care to speak to you anymore.”
Man alive. But aside from Minaj being right re: us really trying to rope her into issues that have nothing to do with her, what also impresses me is the writer’s conclusion.
“Even though I had no intention of putting her down as a small-minded or silly woman, she was right to call me out,” Grigoriadis writes. “She had the mike and used it to her advantage, hitting the notes that we want stars like her to address right now, particularly those of misogyny and standing up for yourself, even if it involves standing up for yourself against another woman.”
Because, I’ll be honest, as a person who does interviews very, very rarely, I don’t know if I’d have survived this one. Not because of how Minaj responded, but because I think I’d be embarrassed that I’d asked the question and I’d be upset that I’d made her upset, and I know I’d really have to fight my ego in terms of being honest about how the way everything ended. Obviously, this is why I’m not a journalist, and also why Grigoriadis has profiled a slew of famous people and profiled them well.
So yes, what I’m saying is that this is one of my favourite interviews of the year. And also, I intend on ending all conversations with people by saying, “I don’t care to speak to you anymore.” So everyone should be very happy I no longer work in customer service.
