Nicki Minaj usually speaks her mind without hesitation, but she has remained surprisingly quiet on the current racial rift in America and the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. She finally broke her silence and finds the whole situation a bit hopeless.
"It's sickening, and I've been reading so many people saying, 'Why are we surprised?' That's what's really sad: that we should somehow be used to being treated like animals," Minaj told Rolling Stone magazine. "It's gotten to the point where people feel like there's no accountability: If you are law enforcement and you do something to a black person, you can get away with it."
The "Anaconda" singer also addressed the reason more black performers haven't spoken up. She traced the reluctance back to Kanye West's appearance during A Concert for Hurricane Relief when he said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
"I feel like when Public Enemy were doing 'Fight the Power,' we as a culture had more power - now it feels hopeless," Minaj says. "People say, 'Why aren't black celebrities speaking out more?' But look what happened to Kanye when he spoke out. People told him to apologize to Bush!"
West was forced to make several public apologies following the episode. He too has stayed silent in the wake of recent events.
"He was the unofficial spokesman for hip-hop, and he got torn apart," Minaj said. "And now you haven't heard him speaking about these last couple things, and it's sad. Because how many times can you be made to feel horrible for caring about your people before you say, 'F*** it, it's not worth it, let me live my life because I'm rich, and why should I give a f***?'"
Minaj's statements come less than a month after Questlove, the drummer for The Roots, also addressed the lack of artists voicing their opinions on current events. In a message on Instagram, the musician (whose real name is Ahmir-Khalib Thompson) referenced the backlash against the Dixie Chicks, who also made remarks against President Bush and the war in Iraq.
"Suddenly there was an onslaught of radio silence from artists across the board (correction not everyone was silent, but the silence was deafening)," he wrote on Dec. 4. "Although I'm kinda/sorta addressing the hip hop nation I really apply this challenge to ALL artists. We need new Dylans. New Public Enemys. New Simones. New De La Roachas. New ideas!"
