Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part VI of a six part pancocojams series on Black Barbie dolls and/or some songs that refer to Barbie.
This post presents article excerpts that focus on Nicki Minaj's Black Barbie aesthetics.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/09/black-representation-in-barbie-doll.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post showcases three videos of Black representation in the Barbie doll line and presents excerpts from two online articles about Black Barbie dolls.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/09/lil-jackies-2008-black-barbie-song.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post focuses on the 2008 song "Black Barbie" by Lil Jackie.
WARNING- This song includes profanity.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/09/nicki-minajs-2018-song-black-barbies.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases the 2018 song "Black Barbies" by Nicki Minaj and focuses on the controversary about non-Black people singing the lyrics to that song on the Tik Tok social media site.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/09/barbie-world-by-aqua-1997-barbie-world.html for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post showcases the 1997 official YouTube video of "Barbie World" by Aqua and the 2023 official YouTube video of "Barbie World" by Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice (with Aqua). This post also includes an excerpt about Barbie dolls and Black girls.
WARNING: The 2023 song "Barbie World" by Nicki Minaj featuring Ice Spice contains profanity.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/09/lil-kims-black-barbie-aesthetic.html for Part V of this pancocojams series. That post presents information about Lil Kim, an article except, and discussion thread comments about Lil Kim's Black Barbie aesthetics.
WARNING:
The 2023 song "Barbie World" by Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice (with Aqua) contains profanity.
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The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Nicki Minaj for her musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Biographical information about Nicki Minaj is given in Part III of this pancocojams series.
Because pancocojams is a family friendly blog, no Nicki Minaj videos (except for "Barbie World") and no Lil Kim videos are included in this pancocojams series.
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS
These article excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Article #1
From https://www.vibe.com/lists/nicki-minaj-barbie-songs-ranked/
Nicki Minaj’s Best “Barbie” Songs Ranked
From "Barbie Tingz" to "Barbie Dreams,"
Minaj has shown what it takes to be queen Barb.
By Amber Corrine, July 22, 2023
…”The Barbie film finally hit theaters on Friday (July 21)
and Nicki Minaj not only has a banger on its soundtrack, but has also
encompassed the Mattel doll for years.
At the onset of her career and the release of her 2007 mixtape, Playtime Is Over, the Queen emcee dubbed herself the “Barbie.” On the project’s cover, Nicki appears as a doll trapped inside a box. Since then, the alias has become a part of her image and brand and she’s called her fans “Barbz.”
[…]
At the Barbie premiere, Minaj told ET, “I am so excited to be here and be a part of this entire moment. I’m glad that they thought of me because I’m excited just like everybody else is excited to see this movie. “I’ve been saying Barbie my whole career. So it’s a very full circle moment.”
Below is a ranking of Nicki Minaj’s best “Barbie” songs that have not only been inspired by the beloved Mattel doll but also defined her persona.
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: A chronological list of Nicki Minaj's songs with Barbie in the title is found immediately below. This article's writer ranks Nicki Minaj's song "Barbie World" as #1 and gives the following review of that song.]
[…]
"Barbie World"
The leading single from the Barbie film soundtrack is Nicki
Minaj’s “Barbie World” featuring Ice Spice. The track samples Aqua’s original
1997 hit “Barbie Girl” and is accompanied by a true-to-theme Barbie music
video.
The song is a fun spin on the original as Minaj brings Ice into the Barbie lifestyle she’s been living for years. In the Hannah Lux Davis-directed video, the pair have a luxurious day in Malibu, the Mattel doll’s signature hometown. The rappers get dolled up in their Barbie dream house before jet skiing on pink clouds, and driving a pink Barbie convertible car.
In true Barbie fashion, Minaj wears a black and white polka dot dress, magenta platform heels, and two curly ponytails in her hair. The Bronx baddie sports pink hair, a yellow off-the-shoulder blouse, and skater skirt.
Surrounded by “Ken dolls,” the New Yorkers trade bars as
they rap, “And I’m bad like the Barbie/ I’m a doll, but I still wanna party/
Pink ‘Vette like I’m ready to bend/ I’m a 10, so I’m pulling a Ken/ Like
Jazzie, Stacie, Nicki/ All of the Barbies is pretty/ All of the Barbies is bad/
It girls and we ain’t playin’ tag.”
-snip-
Here's a list (with release dates) of Nicki Minaj's records that include the name "Barbie" in their titles:
2016 - "Black Barbies"
2018- “Barbie Dreams
2018 -“Barbie Tingz”
2019 -"Barbie Goin Bad"
2019 - "Barbie Drip"
2023- "Barbie World"
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Article #2
From
"The Harajuku Barbie (pronounced HARA-JOO-KOO BAR-BEE), often
shortened simply to Barbie or HB, is the name of one of Nicki Minaj's longest
lasting and most famous alter egos. Nicki the Harajuku Barbie accentuates the
qualities of an imaginative, fun, coquettish girly girl-fashionista, that loves
everything pink. This is also the muse who ignites the transformation of
Nicki's performances as an R&B/Pop singer and future Rock-Star Icon.[1]
Personality
The Harajuku Barbie is famous for speaking softly and acting
much more naively than any of her other egos although in the beginning of her
existence, she was much more confident and cocky. She is the opposite of Roman
Zolanski, another of Minaj's alter egos. Barbie's favorite color is pink, akin
Minaj, and, after Minaj began wearing wigs of many different colors, she is
typically found in blonde or pink wigs. However, Barbie can also act very
sexually, as she sings in the song "BedRock".
[…]
Style
Harajuku Barbie is often interpreted as the fashion behind
Nicki Minaj's style.
This fashion sense and lifestyle became so prominent that Minaj created an alter ego specifically for it named The Harajuku Barbie.
[…]
Nicki Minaj went out on a viral video to explain the newest
form of Harajuku Barbie, where according to her, was a fashion style she got
inspired of.
According to the video, she got inspired by the Japanese
city Harajuku where the culture of the same name begun, Because people were
adding "something" to "Barbie" to describe something, for
example: a fashion style, Nicki decided to combine these two words to create
the name of "Presidentduane", describing her fashion style.
This prominent style that was adopted by many female fans,
which led to them calling themselves Harajuku Barbiez, eventually shortened to
simply Barbz, and so Minaj's coinage of the fashion term eventually led to the
common name for female members of Team Minaj.”
-snip-
This article includes photographs of Nicki Minaj in a pink wig, or yellow wig,
or white wig, or another hair color as part of her Harajuku Barbie persona.
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Article #3
From https://www.yahoo.com/video/nicki-minaj-shouts-lil-kim-180109662.html Nicki Minaj Shouts Out Lil' Kim for Her Influence in Fashion, by Gigi Fong, March 11, 2022
…"Historically, the two rappers have not gotten along. It
all began when Minaj's single release promo featured her in Lil' Kim's iconic
squat that she posed in for her debut album, Hard Core. Fans placed the images
side-by-side and it sparked controversy over whether Minaj was copying Kim. The
history between the two gets even more dramatic with a number of negative
run-ins within the industry. But ultimately, Lil' Kim's influence -- from her
colored wigs to her Barbie doll aesthetic -- is undeniable.”…
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Article #4
“It’s ‘Barbie’ b**ch if you still in doubt,” Nicki Minaj rapped in ‘Barbie’s’ latest trailer.
…"Nicki Minaj is living up to the name of one of her famous
alter egos: Barbie.
Today (May 25), Warner Bros. Pictures dropped a new trailer for its 2023 film that is titled the same as Minaj’s infamous personality. As the ending approached, viewers heard the talented artist rapping over a sample of Aqua’s 1997 track “Barbie Girl.”
On Twitter, Rolling Stone confirmed Minaj’s involvement in the movie by sharing the highly anticipated film’s Barbie The Album lineup. Lizzo, Khalid, Kali, and more join the “Moment 4 Life” lyricist on the soundtrack.
After fans learned of the news, Twitter went haywire with
Minaj’s name trending. Many of her Barbs believed the song opportunity was
befitting for the Trinidadian-born songwriter given how the fashion doll has
inspired her musically. Minaj appeared dressed in pink as a Barbie on her first
album cover. She has incorporated different doll-like esthetics in her music
videos and looks throughout her career.
Online, one user wrote, “When you think of the word Barbie,
you think of Nicki Minaj and her fans. Let’s be 100 real.”- J.
(@J0rdan0re0) May 25, 2023"...
-snip-
The spelling for that beginning quote is the way that it was written in that article.
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Article #5
From https://www.gq.com/story/barbie-black-women-rappers-nicki-minaj-lil-kim "How Black Women Rappers Expanded What Barbie Could Be: by Heven Haile, August 6, 2023
"Kent Theater, Brooklyn. Five minutes until Barbie starts.
Here, girlhood is sacred. Unsupervised tweens in hot-pink bobs record TikToks
in pitch-black aisles. Trying my best not to gawk, I can’t help but notice the
song blasting from their phones. It wasn’t a snippet of “Barbie Girl” by Aqua
or “Dance the Night” by Dua Lipa, which was the first single from the movie’s
soundtrack. The youth were listening to “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj and Ice
Spice.
[...]
Two decades ago, Lil’ Kim started to mold the doll in her
image. “Black Barbie dressed in Bulgari,” she declared herself in “The Jump
Off.” Sporting blue contacts and a blonde wig, she sat in the driver seat of a
pink convertible on the 2000 Source Awards stage. Aria S. Halliday, an
associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of
Kentucky, points to Barbie’s global name recognition as one of the primary
reasons artists like Kim sought to align themselves with the doll. “For Black women
rappers in a hip-hop space that has been very masculine for so long, it's a lot
easier to hold on to the hyper-feminine aspects of Barbie to situate themselves
in a unique position,” Halliday explains. Rappers like Kim and later Nicki
Minaj borrowed tropes like the Barbiecore aesthetic (see: Elle Woods in Legally
Blonde) and airheaded Bimbocore (see: Anna Nicole Smith’s celebrity persona),
co-opting the daintiness historically reserved for white women, in order to
carve out space for themselves.
And now the very word Barbie is basically synonymous with
Nicki. “It’s Barbie, bit-h!*” is basically a bat signal for the Barbz, her
diehard fanbase. Originally a farewell slogan, it has become a subversive spin
on “Black Bi-ch*.” Feigning naivitΓ© on the choruses of bubble gum pop records,
rappers like Minaj mock geniality and disarm listeners only to shock them with
spurts of ferality. Black Barbie doesn’t stare off vacantly into space. She
growls, grimaces, and throws herself around frantically, all while striving for
a polished image of perfection. As Nicki said herself: “Raggedy Ann could never
be a Barbie Bitch!!”
[…]
Akin to Mattel’s Barbie, Minaj was lambasted for promoting
unrealistic body standards. What some viewed as her glorification of plastic
surgery, others interpreted as cultural commentary. In 2010’s “Barbie Girls:
Lil’ Kim, Nicki Minaj, and Mattel” contributor Sarah Todd uses Minaj’s Pink
Friday album cover to argue that the rapper often satirized societal
expectations of women: “One outstretched leg, shiny as plastic, is more than
double the length of her torso. She has no arms, and her breasts are thrust so
high they cover her collarbone. These out-of-whack proportions and missing
limbs communicate the impossibility of the femininity she embodies.”
The allure of the Black Barbie has taken hold of younger
generations. With some exceptions, female rap now heavily leans into a
hyper-feminine aesthetic. Like Minaj, these rappers also routinely attempt
crossovers into bubblegum pop. It’s become the standard. Just take a look at
popular Gen-Z emcees Flo Milli, Baby Tate, and Doja Cat, who often dress in
pastels, rock platinum blonde wigs, adopt high-pitch vocal inflections, and
animatedly pose like life-size dolls."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this article.
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This concludes Part VI of this six part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
