Ilenny Nunez
Professor Santos
March 27, 2015
Blog Entry #8
Nicki
Minaj and Missy Elliott
This week in class one of the topics that we discussed in
class was about Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott and how different they are even
if they are both in the media and on hip- hop. One of the points that came up
when we were discussing how different they both are is that for example Missy
is not so concern about being sexy in her videos or even dressing in a sexy way
to attract the attention from men, while in the other hand Nicki does even if
she says that she doesn’t do that anymore when we all know that she still does.
Another thing that I find
kind of hard to believe is the fact that Nicki tried to say that the reason why
she was so sexy when she first started was because that’s what she saw that other
women in the media world used to do to be successful so that’s why she did it
because she thought that if she wanted to be successful she was going to bring the
same thing to the table. Thinking about this makes me a little bit mad because I
personally think that this is just a weak excuse because maybe she has to be a
little bit sexy but I feel that she focuses too much on being sexy unlike Missy
that focuses more on the choreography and the message that she’s trying to
deliver with her song to the audience.
Also another point in which
I agree with Nicki was when she said that she has decreased down her sexiness because
she doesn’t want little girls to think that life is just about being sexy; and
although this is not true like now she dresses better and more conservative but
she’s still sexy in her videos, but despite this I like that she’s trying to
make young girls that sexy is not all in life that there’s more to it than just
being attractive and being seen as what for men now is the “perfect” woman just
because the way they look with the big butt and big boobs and no stomach.
Lastly we all agree that maybe
Missy is more of an empowered woman just because the way she represents herself
in the media and the way she represents her persona as well. Because as someone
in the discussion mentioned Nicki falls more into like the male gaze where even
if she did the whole being sexy act intentionally she knew that she had to do
it to be successful so I feel that she does that because she knows it will give
her attention and satisfy men since the male gaze is all about satisfying men.
I totally agree about the things you said about Missy. Missy doesn't care about how others musicians dress in their videos. She always tries to be differents and extraodinary. Also she does her own things like no one is watching.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I disagree and think that Nicki is a positive role model, I can see where your coming from. In a way i think her and missy are too different to even compare, but I think that they are both good role models just that they stand for two totally different things and they are trying to get a different message across to girls or maybe they are trying to send the same message just in two very different ways.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I'm glad Nicki is dressing more conservatively for her younger fans. She is teaching them they they do not have to dress sexy to be successful.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some really interesting points. I also agree that Nicki has toned down some of her sexiness in her personal life (maybe not so much in her videos). Its interesting to see how two different women portray themselves in media. I do think there is a lot of pressure on women to be sexy in order to be successful, especially in hip hop today. The image of women in hip hop has changed so much and Missy and Nicki started their careers at different points in hip hop history, which could be why Nicki felt she had to be sexier in order to succeed.
ReplyDelete