Why Are We Letting Nicki Minaj Off the Hook?
by Elizabeth Adetiba
Last August, I found myself clapping fiercely at the TV screen during Nicki Minaj’s VMA acceptance speech. She had (rightfully) called out Miley Cyrus for her many offenses: tone policing her grievances over the “Anaconda” video’s failure to nab a Video of the Year nomination, cultural appropriation of all sorts, and upon being confronted with the latter, willful ignorance. I marveled at Nicki’s defiance of pop culture respectability and shrieked with joy as she uttered that infamous line, “Miley, what’s good?” I quickly took to social media to defend her honor from the myriad of angry tweeters who hurled ridiculous comments towards her.
But now I feel nothing but disappointment in Nicki Minaj. Just a few weeks ago, I learned that her older brother, Jelani Maraj, had recently been charged with first-degree rape — of a child. My stomach turned, but I initially felt no ill will towards Nicki; if we were each held accountable for crimes committed by loved ones, many of us would never see the light of day. However, her decision to front his $100,000 bail did not sit well with me at all. While details of the case are limited due to the alleged victim’s status as a minor, this is what we know from the available court files:
- The victim alleges that there was more than one incident of rape.
- The victim alleges that the first rape occurred as early as April of 2015.
- The victim is younger than 13.
He or she isn’t even a teenager yet.
Given Nicki’s close relationship with her older brother, claims of “blood is thicker than water” and “family has to stick together” may come to mind when assessing her involvement in this matter. But here is the reality we must confront: by bailing her brother out of jail, Nicki has made life for the victim that much harder.
Imagine being 12 years old and having the courage to bring your adult rapist to trial for his crimes. Then imagine his mega-star sister offering him a silent yet tremendous token of support. How much courage would you have left?
I sat on that question for a while; maybe Nicki truly believes that these allegations are false (which is rather difficult to accept seeing as prosecutors felt they possessed enough evidence to charge him withfirst degree rape and assault). Why would she refrain from issuing a public statement in support of her supposedly innocent big brother? After awhile, I chose to table this issue; I chalked it up to a lose-lose situation and went on blasting “The Pinkprint” during my morning workouts. And then I got word of Nicki performing in Angola for members of the infamously repressive Dos Santos regime.
For those not savvy on global affairs, Angola has been marred by a long civil war, continued conflict regarding “blood diamond” mining, and a blatant disregard for freedom of expression at the hands of President José Eduardo Dos Santos. Both Angolan and international human rights groups called on Nicki to cancel her concert and use her platform to bring more awareness to the Dos Santos regime’s abuses.
These groups were previously successful in convincing celebrities like Mariah Carey and Beyoncé, who faced harsh backlash for performing for the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, to donate the proceeds from their performances to human rights organizations and denounce the regime.
Surprisingly Nicki, who recorded “Feeling Myself” with fellow feminist icon Beyoncé, did neither.
Instead, she hailed Isabel Dos Santos, the crown princess of the Dos Santos regime, for her “girl power” status as the 8th richest woman in the world. But what Nicki gets so wrong is that wealth earned from corruption and exploitation is never to be lauded. In 2013, Forbes investigated Isabel Dos Santos’ various stocks and investments and found that almost all of them could be traced to companies directly in business with her father’s government.
So much for “girl power.”
But even in the off chance that Dos Santos’ business ties to the government are simply coincidence and Nicki Minaj’s message is upheld, how can anyone, but especially a performer who claims to be invested in women’s empowerment, perform in good conscience for a regime known for releasing dogs on female protesters as they peacefully demand the most basic of rights?
Fans and “stans” alike would do well to re-assess the authenticity of the Harajuku Barbie’s “empowering” feminist platform: can you stand for all women while silently perpetuating rape culture and human rights abuses? Or does feminism take a back seat after the records have been sold?
That’s not for me to decide. But in the meantime, I’ll have to find a new jam for my workouts.
