Nicki Minaj’s inspirational rise to the top has been credited for reintroducing Hip-Hop to the mainstream in the mid ’10s and creating a clear path for female rappers hoping to follow in her footsteps.
Unfortunately, as many of her fans will remember, there was once a time (circa 2007) when the entertainment industry was opposed to investing in lady lyricists after seeing a number of Hip-Hop’s leading lose their selling power in the mid 2000s.
Today, the demo tape which would go on to change the landscape has reemerged.
Full story below…
The release was launched to secure the attention of a recording industry which was then riding high on waves powered by Rihanna‘s ‘Good Girl Gone Bad‘ era, the tail end of Beyonce‘s ‘B’Day’ campaign and the emergence of a rising starlet named Katy Perry.
Artists, who would one day become her peers and collaborators.
The independent rapper, with help from her then-boyfriend Safaree Samuels and business partner Fendi ,went on to create one of the first social media campaigns the entertainment industry had ever seen to generate the fan base which would become the Barbz.
Quite interestingly, her ability to form a base with serious purchasing power came with major rewards when she was able to convert their support of her merchandise ( ‘Wanna Minaj’ T-Shirts etc) into album sales following the release of her debut album ‘Pink Friday’.
Hey @nickiminaj FOLLOW UR NUMBER 1 FAN ON TWITTER Fierce_Diva….
I BEEN ROCKIN WIT U SINCE 2007 (NICKI MINAJ live › http://ustre.am/4ymD)— Kieshawnna B. (@BeautifulKie) November 15, 2009
Many of the techniques Minaj used to generate digital steam for herself are now widely used in the business to launch emerging artists online.
![New Song: Nicki Minaj - 'FTCU (Sleeze Mix)' [featuring Sexyy Red, Chris Brown, & Travis Scott]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nicki-minaj-thatgrapejuice-2024-ftcu-remix-sleeze-sexyy-red-chris-brown-travis-scott-464x260.jpg "New Song: Nicki Minaj - 'FTCU (Sleeze Mix)' [featuring Sexyy Red, Chris Brown, & Travis Scott].")
funny how she first paid homage to female emcees then when her career popped off she made no room for them.
Bc they hated on her
She can’t make them pop they ain’t help her
Look how ungrateful these young non rapping ass b****** are
That’s why megan and doja the only ones doing well cuz they not scheming for publicity.
A certain botched body bitchhhhh been pushing s*** back since 2019
Lies
Pull your head out of you a$$. You’re definitely blind and of course stupid if you think that those females back then and even now hated on Onika. This is the same girl who would praise female emcees and then diss them. THAT is the issue that most had with her. Yeah she was a little more humble back then, but she was no ones angel. You all have always thought that she was this person who would sit back and do nothing and folks were just hating on her for no reason. Ya’ll are so stupid that its sad. You never see the error in that girls ways because ya’ll have ya heads so far up her a$$.
That’s how you know a person is evil..when they expect victims to help the villains after the villainss clearly tried to hurt her career..she owes them a slay on a track and that’s it..
When she was humble and not so petty
I want to hear this demo. I know alot of ppl dont like her but one thing she can do is RAP and literally shes the last female that can, so kno surprise she came out of nyc. The city girls, sweetie, iggy all them are wack. And if im buggin tell em get behind nicki verse.
Before the booty and boobs 😂 I keep telling y’all, if Nicki did ONE thing, she made every female who checked into that clinic or basement do what they did 😂 White, Black, Brown, Asian, you name it…she popularized the fake ASS…she should get royalties for that 🤣
THAT’S the FUN NICKI we ❤’d!
Normal size äss + upbeat raps.
And she used to smile vs. sneer.
Wait. Did I just describe Cardi?
Ooop. 🍵
Cardi has had her ass done twice over
And her stomach looks like it’s ruptured from the inside
Try again this time without a ghostwriter
@FAF: Cardi’s has a rear within normal human range in size. Bionika? Circus tent.
Cardi Is built like a man..with that muscle stomache, arms, shoulders…she looks very masculine tbh..🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮
She can buy as many number 1’s as she wants, she can buy as many blogs to write good things about her, but none of it will make her relevant. True queens don’t buy #1 hits just for them to fall out of the top 40 in their second week. Nicki is a loser and ruined her legacy and her discography. Try again
Pure sales got her that #1. No streams. No radio plays. Tons of fan bases against the barbs. Pure sales all the way. Don’t get it twisted.
Although I don’t think like Nicki attitude, I will always love her and her music. I remember this so vividly. I followed her every move, knew every lyric on these mixtapes. This was a time when pop singers were the it girls. There were no one like Nicki. She turned everyone into believers. I wonder if she didn’t pop would there be any female rapper out today. Because no one was investing in female rap. NO ONE!
Worked with more females than any other female rapper in history.
Legend