She wasn’t getting caught up in the revelry and she also wasn’t checked out. What may have finally turned the tide though was when I saw her at Lil Wayne’s homecoming party in Miami. Again, the lyrics were ill and surprisingly broader in range than the sexed up lyrics of say…Lil Kim. Then I started listening to the verses of her other joints instead of the (super catchy) hooks. First up was Monster, and when I heard the words…I got it. Instead of hearing the “woof woof, like a dungeon dragon” rah rah, I listened to the lyrics. I stopped hearing the voices (no, not voices in my head). Maybe I need to hit refresh and listen to Nicki Minaj as Nicki Minaj and not who I was predisposed to think she was. And, of course her fan base was down with it. None of the blogs (of note) called it wack or disparaged it in anyway. The weirder thing was there was nary a protest from the hip-hop community. Again, she had jumped on an ill POP 8o’s sample completely from left field. A lot of heads weren’t feeling that one, so it was more something to be appreciated on the low than drawing me to the bandwagon. It came complete with a catchy melody and an even catchier hook. Soon after that, Right Through Me dropped and you could hear that the pop influences that had surfaced on Your Love were not a one-off. Many others I know and respect did though. Huh?! Kanye has always been a visionary, but FOR REAL?!! But then I heard her verse on Monster…and I didn’t like it. My ears did perk up however when Kanye West (someone who I think is one of the dopest ARTISTS out there) said that Nicki had the potential to be the 2nd biggest MC ever, only to Eminem. Minaj was truly her own person (even if the Diddy story turned out not to be true). These stories started to make a strong case that Ms. At the same time, rumors swirled that Diddy was her manager and she was putting some distance between her and Young Money–at least for her management. Soon after that, stories started circling that she had not wanted to drop Massive Attack as her single and it was others who had pushed her into it. Maybe it was when Your Lovedropped and she used the dope Annie Lenox sample. Somewhere along the way, though, things started to change. Most of all, I could NOT get with all the funny voices. I also thought the whole Barbies thing was completely derivative of Lady GaGa and her Little Monsters (they are). I thought she wilted on the Letterman show during her performance with Robin Thicke (watch at the 4:00 mark), and I thought Massive Attack was a complete brick (I still do). I HATED her verse on Bedrock and most of the other cameos she dropped. Her clothes and image seemed overly sexual and I thought they were designed to be a distraction from a lack of true artistry. At first, I thought she was a Young Money puppet– a female extension of Lil Wayne. I resisted the Nicki Minaj bandwagon for a really, really long time.