Nicki Minaj: a Disastrous Timeline

October 21, 2019 - Announces marriage to Kenneth Petty

This announcement was a shock to the Barbz because at the time, we thought Nicki was better than that. Marrying a sex offender? Really? Nicki had done some questionable things in the past, but nothing this outlandish.

December 13, 2019 - Announces retirement

I remember seeing the news on the Twitter timeline in the stairwell on the way down from whatever class I had and screaming. I looked absolutely ridiculous, but I didn't care. THE Onika Tanya Miraj was retiring. What was even more upsetting was that I'd just bought her merch for the concert and was so excited to see her live. Obviously, I knew this retirement thing wasn't going to last forever, but it still pained me to see: "I've decided to retire & have my family. I know you guys are happy now. To my fans, keep reppin me, do it til da death of me, ❌ in the box- cuz ain't nobody checkin me.✅ Love you for LIFE 😘❤️🦄"

June 12, 2020

As I said before, I knew the queen wouldn't be gone forever. After the release of "Yikes" in February 2020, I was excited for the new era. Imagine my disappointment when 6ix9ine announced that he was dropping ANOTHER collab with Nicki. I'd thought we'd left him behind after "FEFE" and "MAMA" but no, there just had to be another one. It's not the song was bad (I've heard worse). It's the fact she still supported him after everything we found out about him between their earlier collaborations and this one. Not only was 6ix9ine involved in planning a murder, but he's also a pedophile and abuser.

September 13, 2021 - Admits to being anti-vax

In response to her fans asking why she didn't attend the Met Gala, Nicki tweeted "They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won't [be] for the Met. It'll be once I feel I've done enough research. I'm working on that now. In the meantime, my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one." The issue with this was not that she didn't feel comfortable getting vaccinated, but that she shared her doubts and later spread misinformation to hundreds of millions of people. I do think it's important to ask questions, just not in front of that volume of people, especially when you have an audience as attentive as hers. Dr. Fauci and the White House offered to personally explain the benefits of the vaccine and the how and why of it all, but she publicly declined the offer. That resulted in her being the face of the several anti-vax protests that followed.

September 22, 2021 - Victim speaks out on The Real

We knew Kenneth Petty (Nicki's husband) was convicted of assault in 1995, but the details were blurry. I remember in an episode of Queen Radio (Nicki's Apple Music radio show) that Nicki said he was wrongly convicted. She also said that the woman who pressed charges was a white woman and that's why the authorities didn't bother to investigate further. At the time, the Barbz had no other information to go off of, so we just assumed that it was true because unfortunately, that is the story for countless Black men.

After decades of silence, Jennifer Hough, Kenneth's alleged assault victim, came out of hiding and shared her story on The Real (that American talk show with the Cheetah Girl). She said that she was offered a bribe to keep quiet, but when she refused, both Kenneth and Nicki threatened her in efforts to get her to comply. There's honestly nothing else I can say other than that the entire situation is disgusting and terrible. ESPECIALLY because if this is true, she's hurting another Black woman (yeah, Jennifer Hough is Black) in order to protect her criminal husband.

October 8, 2021 - The "Boyz" Beef

Jesy Nelson, former member of the UK girl group, Little Mix, had a TERRIBLE falling out with the other members once she decided to go solo. So, it was no surprise that everything went to -- after Jesy released her first single as a solo artist. "Boyz" was rumoured to have a Nicki feature, but I didn't think it would actually happen. When the song came out with Nicki on the cover, I was shocked. BTW, the song sucked. Nicki's contribution was subpar, and let's just say, there's a reason why Jesy didn't start off as a solo artist.

Another thing about Jesy, is that she's been Blackfishing for over a decade. I've been a Mixer (Little Mix stan) for years and had no clue she was white until the release of this song. While Twitter was rightfully bashing the abysmal music video for "Boyz" Leigh-Anne Pinnock, an actual Black woman and member of Little Mix, took the opportunity to share her experiences with Jesy Blackfisihing and just being racist in general. In response to that, Nicki went live on Instagram multiple times; some by herself and others with Jesy. Literally, all of them consisted of her saying nasty (and untrue) things about Leigh-Anne and Little Mix; how they were jealous of Jesy's success and other things along those lines. First of all, Little Mix already had a collab with Nicki and it's GOOD, so I'm not sure what they would even be envious of. Second, of all what is it with Nicki and putting down other Black women? And not even just Black women, but victims of harrassment.

For obvious reasons, I turned in my stan card after the news broke about Jennifer, but after the release of "Boyz," I've been socially detached from both Nicki and the Barbz. I honestly couldn't tell you what she's up to now, nor do I care to know.