Nicki Minaj has accused the Grammy Awards of prioritising new artists, after her 2022 song “Super Freaky Girl” was moved from the rap category to the pop category.
The switch was revealed on Thursday (13 October) when the first-round ballot went out to Recording Academy voters.
The rapper and singer made her point on social media, explaining that she wouldn’t have been annoyed if she felt the same treatment applied to all genre-blending acts on the nominations list.
“I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY,” said the 39-year-old on Twitter.
“If SFG has [to be] moved out RAP then so does “Big Energy”! ANY1 who says diff is simply a Nicki hater or a troll. I’d actually LUV 2 c a more street record win- male OR female! IJS rightIsRight,” she said, referring to another song by Latto that she felt did not have the same treatment.
The star then proceeded to post a lengthy video on Instagram which expanded on her issue with the decision entitled “Dear Grammys”.
“If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention,” she said, addressing the camera.
“And by the way, this is not to say any song is bad or any female rapper is bad. I always say this: Any rapper, female or male, that wins a Grammy, you should be f***ing proud of yourself,” the “Starships” singer stated.
“But why is the goalpost only ever moved when it’s Nicki? Well, I’ll tell you why. They don’t want the people that they have in the industry to go up against me.”
The star suggested that the switch has made it much harder for her to succeed in the awards, with her believing she could have won in rap, but would struggle in pop.
“Now what do you think is gonna happen when they start voting on these pop categories? And it’s a bunch of people, white or wherever they’re from, or older, and they have to decide between Nicki Minaj and Harry Styles, or Nicki Minaj and Adele?” she added.
“That’s purposely designed so Nicki is not in the (rap) category that we don’t want any competition in. Put her in there (in pop) so she has more competition and less of a chance to win,” Minaj claimed.
On “Super Freaky Girl”, Minaj raps throughout the song alongside samples of the original 1981 track “Super Freak” by Rick James.
