Keys, she did have the Clive Davis machine behind her, pushing over boulders and getting her to play piano on Oprah, while all Res had was a great album that sounded dramatically different from what her peers were doing. Released the same musical season as Alicia Keys’ debut Songs in A Minor, critic Greg Kot reviewed the two albums in a single Chicago Tribute column and concluded, “Though Keys has been elevated to the forefront of the neo-soul movement overnight, her debut album isn’t nearly as strong as the extraordinary How I Do.” Taking nothing away from the obviously talented Ms. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alone in my ignorance concerning the sonic specialness of How I Do, an album that was hailed by critics, whose singles “Golden Boys” and “They-Say Vision” were played on MTV, but still somehow flew over the heads of the general public. “You don’t know about Res?” Rushing home afterwards, I cracked open the cellophane on one of the three Res advances I’d thrown in the corner, fired up a blunt and went sailing down to paradise like a smoked-out Christopher Cross. “It’s Res,” the woman answered, holding up the CD case. Awestruck, it was as if I was listening to a cool urban angel singing songs of red valentine romance and dark clouded break-ups. Automatically assuming what I perceived to be a lackluster image was reflective of the material within, I simply rejected Res based on that silly speculation.įour months later, while visiting a friend at the World Wide Plaza offices of Def Jam Records, I heard some splendid songs blaring from a neighboring office and inquired with the oft-asked music aficionado question, “Who is that?” As the chilling “Ice King” dripped out of the speakers like hot honey, I stood in the doorway transfixed by one of the most hypnotic voices I’d heard in a long time singing playfully brutal lyrics (“Although I’ve seen your wickedness, I still love your effervescence”) over a head-nodding bassline. In retrospect, the cover conveys a cinematic quality that was hauntingly beautiful, but at the time, I just thought it was boring. Glancing at the innocent black and white photo taken by the usually provocative Ellen Von Unwerth, who has shot sexy snaps of Janet Jackson, Joi and Beyoncé, one sees a pretty-faced woman innocently looking over her shoulder as though being followed. "Hopefully, this changes things and maybe it won't change things, but I love it.We are taught from a young age to “never judge a book by its cover,” but that was exactly what I did in 2001 when copies of Res’ debut album How I Do began arriving at my Brooklyn garret that spring. "I wanted to say, 'Hey ladies, you're beautiful,'" Minaj said. "Because of the shift in pop culture, even hip-hop men are really glorifying the less curvy body. "I wanted to reinstate something," Minaj told ABC News. "Yeah, that was important for us to show in the kitchen scene, because it's always about the female taking back the power," she said, "and if you want to be flirty and funny that's fine, but always keeping the power and the control in everything."īack in August, Minaj told ABC News that she hoped the video would highlight curvy women again. Then she flirts shamelessly in a scene with the rapper Drake, leaving him the minute he touches her. Did you realize that? At first I'm being sexual with the banana, and then it's like, 'Ha-ha, no,'?" she told GQ. She talks about a scene near the end that features a banana. Nicki Minaj Explains Racy 'Anaconda' VideoĦ Surprising Revelations About Nicki Minaj It's just cheeky, like a funny story."īut Minaj does acknowledge that the video is also about power and control. She said the character she plays in the video "is just talking about two guys that she dated in the past and what they're good at and what they bought her and what they said to her. Girls love being with other girls, and when you go back to us being younger, we would have slumber parties and we'd be dancing with our friends," she said, denying any hidden meaning behind the song or video. "I think the video is about what girls do. Minaj refused to address the steamy lyrics or chorus of women showing off their rear ends that has the video burning up the Internet. I just see the video as being a normal video." "I don't know what there is to really talk about," Minaj told the November issue of GQ. Nicki Minaj says she's tired of having to explain the meaning behind the racy video for her hit song, "Anaconda."
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