Photo courtesy of @nickiminaj / Instagram
Rapper Nicki Minaj lies on top of a table eating Chinese food with a pair of chopsticks. Symbols of Asian culture are prevalent in the photo: her hairstyle has chopsticks stuck through double hair buns, there is a Chinese folding fan, and she is showing her tattoo, which is in Chinese script. Columnist Vidhi Patel uses the example of Nicki Minaj to highlight how anybody can participate in cultural appropriation regardless of race or fame.
*Trigger warning: This column discusses rape.*
Rapper Nicki Minaj has been a prominent figure in music for more than a decade. She has been a trailblazer for women in hip-hop and Black women in the music industry. She has won many awards and her old hits have gained even more popularity on TikTok. Therefore, it is no surprise that she has sustained a strong fan base — referred to as the Barbz — over the years.
However, there is a lot of controversy and problematic behavior surrounding Minaj that most people ignore in their admiration of her music and style. In light of her new single, it is important to outline incidents of Minaj’s racism in the past — and the present.
In 2018, Minaj released a song called “Chun-Li,” named after a character in the video game “Street Fighter II.” The song’s music video sexualizes and stereotypes East Asian women and East Asian culture in many ways. The video starts out with a gong sound and shows Minaj and others in racist East Asian garb. Minaj has chopsticks stuck through double hair buns while the men around her wear conical “rice hats” that are often used in anti-Asian imagery.
She says in the song, “I went and copped the chopsticks/ Put ‘em in my bun just to pop shit.” While the game character Chun-Li has her hair in two buns, the chopsticks were Minaj’s own creative decision, further creating a caricature of East Asian women.
People often defend this video with the argument that Chun-Li is a character, not a…
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