Features
Nicki Minaj & Hot 97 Talk It Out
Minaj recently called in to the radio station and spoke with Funkmaster Flex – who had been critical of Minaj pulling out of Hot 97 Summer Jam 2012. While Minaj was scheduled to play the mainstage, Hot 97 morning DJ Peter Rosenberg criticized her latest single on a side stage, calling “Starships” the “most sellout song in hip-hop history.”
Photo: AP Photo
Amway Center, Orlando, Fla.
Young Money chief Lil Wayne was offended enough to pull all the label’s artists. The situation also put “real” hip-hop against commercial hip-hop.
“As if selling out were still an issue,” New York Times’ Jon Caramanica wrote. “The idea that art and commerce are at odds is a remnant of an old culture war: dogma presented as forward-thinking but really just protecting an outmoded status quo, leading to the unusual and very modern spectacle of a white man deriding a black woman for insufficiently upholding hip-hop values.”
Flex and Minaj eventually hashed out their differences, but it took an hour of on-air arguing. Minaj’s point was simple: It’s not fair to diss an artist who is playing the festival. Flex repeated that there were five hours to fix the situation and get Lil Wayne, Minaj and Drake on stage.