BET’s Mission Statement is, in short, “To entertain, engage and empower the African-American community.”
But based on their network, and social media content and coverage over the years, I’m not sure that’s so true. If we’re being honest, BET hasn’t been the same since the early 2000s, ’05 to be exact. Their shows and movies are low budget, and now… so are their tweets.
After Cardi B became the first woman ever to win Best Rap Album at the Grammy’s, BET took to Twitter in a now-deleted tweet, shading Nicki Minaj.
The problem with BET, a network FOR black empowerment, is that by insinuating Nicki Minaj is upset over Cardi B’s Grammy win, they are inadvertently pitting two minority women against each other over a “beef” that should’ve been long dead.
It’s played out BET, and your tweet wasn’t even fucking funny.
We Are in an Era of Women Empowerment
We are in the era of Feminism, #MeToo, and Black Lives Matter; topics both of these women have been passionate about. The last thing we need is two extremely influential minority women being pit against one another for a couple of RT’s and stale laughs from the hypocritical side of black twitter, in the media. And if I’m being quite honest, the media and social media in general creates and eggs on a lot of beef. Of course, we know Nicki and Cardi B haven’t had the best of interactions with one another. We all saw what happened at fashion week. Heels were thrown, eyes were swollen, and a heated fight between the two ensued. But, that doesn’t give the right for a media outlet with so much power, like BET, to make up a completely distasteful and misleading tweet.
It wasn’t even funny and the clapback was trash. Whoever is running their social media account needs to do better. Nicki could’ve been perfectly fine at home, minding her queen business, and yet BET’s ridiculously lame tweet made Nicki seem bitter. It also tainted Cardi’s moment as well. Why does Nicki have to be brought up every single time Cardi achievessomething? And vice versa.
Why Cant’ We Root for Both Cardi B and Nicki Minaj?
If you look at male rap and female rap today, the dynamics are polar opposites. When it comes to female rappers, the industry attempts to crown one queen at a time, while male rap is allowed to run rampant with a bunch of mumbling nobodies with names we can barely pronounce.
Every male rapper gives you something different, and the same can be said of Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. They are on two COMPLETELY different waves. Why can’t they both be seen as winners? Why do we have to choose one to love and one to hate? Cardi B and Nicki Minaj’s music draws out two different sides of a person’s ego, and the rap game needs them both. Cardi drives your “I don’t give a fuck, I’m authentic ass bitch and that’s me. You will deal and I will prosper.” While Nicki drives your “Ima boss bitch. This is my shit and I run it” ego. We need both to be the top-notch bad bitches we are! Aint no sides bih!
BET.. Do Better.
This moment could have been used to highlight Cardi B’s iconic rise and rampant success. Instead, this moment was stolen from her and turned into a petty Bossip style headline. Cardi B was forced to share her moment with someone who had nothing to do with her rise to the top.
I’m not sure what was going through the person’s mind who tweeted that. They might even be looking for a new job by tomorrow. Especially since BET has Nicki slated to perform at the BET Experience. Hopefully, she’ll pull out. I’m sure she doesn’t need BET’s bag anyway. Why would she perform for a network that demonized her on such a sensitive topic? BET has always supported Nicki but now their opinion about the rap icon has appeared to change.
It seems, actually, it’s pretty obvious that there’s been a Nicki Minaj hate train bubbling to the surface. It’s popped at this point, to be honest. The same actions Nicki Minaj was ridiculed for back then, are being praised by artists today. She paved the way for a lot of female rappers to be themselves. They felt they could do rap too. She remained her eccentric, colorful self and ultimately bred a whole new generation of female rap artists.
Onika Tanya Maraj is an Icon and no award can take that from her.
Now BET I think we know who’s to be given “Cocksucker of the Week” on the next episode of Queen
