Nicki Minaj Has My Heartbeat Running Away

Nicki Minaj performs on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. (Photo from Rap-Up Magazine)



The last time I visited home, my sister was surprised to learn that I was a big Nicki Minaj fan. I like the sound of her music; most rap is painful or irritating to listen to, like daggers in your head. Nicki Minaj's songs--the ones I've heard--are oddly relaxing, like a massage. Her outlandish outfits and dazzling music videos are somewhere between Katy Perry- and Lady Gaga-territory, creative but not crazy.

So when I heard that the Trinidadian-born rapper had endorsed Mitt Romney for president, I was surprised and skeptical. I looked into it, and here's what I learned:

On Lil Wayne's mixtape Dedication 4, which dropped Tuesday, Wayne and Minaj tease out raps over Kanye West's Mercy. (I have no idea what any of that means.) In the first verse, Minaj says:

I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney
You lazy bitches are fucking up the economy
Out in Miami I be chillin' with a zombie

Now, to some, that sounded like an endorsement of the Republican candidate, and Minaj has since received death threats from people who are probably very easy to cheat out of money. Even-tempered folks, however, are left scratching their heads at these ambiguous lyrics. 

 Did Nicki Minaj actually endorse Mitt Romney? Well, if you take her words at face value, then "I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney." is pretty clear, but somehow I don't think it's that simple. She could have been mocking Republicans who are voting for Mitt Romney, or this could be some character she invented for the moment. That part about "chillin' with a zombie" in Miami only adds confusion to any attempt to decipher what she meant.

Perhaps Miss Minaj is just messing with us. Curious, though, that she hasn't come out and confirmed/denied that she's supporting Mitt Romney. I'll continue to enjoy her work either way.