She may not have won anything at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 24, but hip-hop star Nicki Minaj got more attention than most people who took home a trophy.
It started earlier in the week when it was reported that one of her backup dancers was bitten by the snake Minaj was planning to use as a prop for Anaconda, part of the show’s opening sequence.
Then there was the actual performance itself – raunchy, twerkalicious but sans snake – and the alleged wardrobe malfunction during her follow-up appearance spitting out Bang Bang.
But while she was making news, she was also demonstrating her ferocious talent, something NOW noticed on her early collaborations with the likes of Eminem, Drake and Jay Z. When she dropped her debut disc, Pink Friday, she became a NOW cover subject (nowtoronto.com) and talked about her flamboyant style, which rivals Lady Gaga’s, and commitment to making gay-friendly and female-empowering rap.
Since then she’s racked up a ton of awards – including four American Music and four Billboard Music Awards – and turned into the hip-hop queen of rage and desire, her rhymes a volatile mashup of sexuality and smarts.
So when she puts on a show like she did last Sunday, we’re not the least bit surprised.
