Former Manager Says Nicki Minaj's Biggest Obstacle To Rap Fame Was Her Gender

Nicki Minaj is one of the few female rappers that has become a household name. Her "Anaconda" video may have stirred up controversy, but few female rappers are given the chance to be in the limelight. Her former manager, Debra Antney shared that it took a lot for Nicki to reach this point; sadly, the manager implies that the process would have taken a shorter time that Nicki was a man.

Debra worked with Nicki on her first mixtape, "Beat Me Up Scotty," that opened a lot of doors for Nicki when she was starting her career. In her Vice interview, Debra shared that one thing that worked against Nicki Minaj was her being a female. She got the talent and got the drive, but she had to fight tooth and nail to attain career success because she was female. In addition, when she is starting to become known, she had to work extra hard against common challenges that women are facing when they go up the ranks: to be their own talented person and not pitted against another female and to be a successful artist without a man by her side. The rap world can be unforgiving to women.

"The biggest obstacle was that she was a female. She was becoming more known and right away people compared her to Lil' Kim. I hated that. I hated that they put those two women up against each other," Debra shared.

However, Debra was adamant that Nicki should do her own thing. She wanted Nicki to work doubly hard to showcase her unique personality. She specifically wanted Nicki to avoid becoming famous based on who she is dating and seeing with.

"The one thing I wanted Nicki to do was push her music on her own. Not with a man. You can run with them, you can rock with them, you can do whatever, but they're not going to put you out. You're going put you out. You're going to make these people love you for you, for who you are and not because of the man you're with," Debra detailed.

The manager is of the opinion that most women often achieve success through a man. If the man fails, then the woman fails as well. She wants Nicki to avoid that. In short, she wants Nicki Minaj to dominate the rap scene based on her own merit.

And Nicki Minaj did. Her performance during this year's VMAs was lauded for not featuring any man at all. The video for the said song only featured Drake in the end. The message was clear: women domination.