Many of us are familiar with female rapper, Nicki Minaj, and even more so with her top-charting single, Anaconda, that sparked much controversy in 2014. The song was nominated for ‘best rap song’ at the 2015 Grammys and although it received immense appreciation from the public, it also sparked great controversy for its lewd and sexually provocative content. Minaj, being one of the few successful female rappers in the music industry, faces huge pressures from both the women that look up to her and her male counterparts. But even with all of these pressures, she never fails to draw attention from the media. Minaj is indeed an intelligent and deliberate artist who clearly understands the question: why does media spread? Her techniques and tactics for success can loosely be applied to Jenkins’ theory on “stickiness” and “spreadability”.
The term “stickiness” encompasses content that intends to capture and keep its audience’s attention. It is generally motivated by monetary capital. “Spreadability”, on the other hand, focusses on the sharing of content for the audience’s own benefit. it is driven by a type of cultural capital. In Minaj’s case, the classification of the nature of Anaconda varies depending on the analytical standpoint that you choose.
From a more conservative and surface-based perspective, her song and music video may easily be categorized under “stickiness”. It can be argued that Minaj’s intentions with her Anaconda music video boil down to shrewd marketing. She proves her keen understanding of her audience and her market, and uses it to her advantage in every sense. Anaconda was a huge financial success. Minaj garnered enormous attention and publicity because of the video’s controversy. Her focus on controversy can thus be viewed as a genius marketing maneuver. Minaj understands the power of using sexuality and controversy to provoke a certain reaction. And because she did it so well, she pushed her career onto a stratospheric level.
While Anaconda does satisfy the “stickiness” theory, there is a greater purpose that Minaj’s song and music video serve. On the other hand, Anaconda could be seen as a great contribution to female empowerment and looked at through the “spreadability” theory. Nicki Minaj contributes to the empowerment of women by showing that they can use their own assets and talents to obtain success in a male dominated industry (just like she has). Within the song, she uses her sexuality to get things from men. The line, “and when we done, I make him buy me Balmain” is an example of her using her oppression in an intelligent way. Although the content of her lyrics is quite vulgar, Minaj is actually speaking to a more important issue – true female power, power that stands in the face of adversity.