Insomnia compels me to offer an opinion of Nicki Minaj's video Only

First, I don't really know who Nicki Minaj is, aside from a few photographs I've seen of her in the celebrity news sections, wearing various outfits. But I'll go out on a limb and guess that she's a hip-hop artist. Contemporary hip-hop isn't my bag, and not for want of trying to make it so. I sampled Kanye's "Yeesus" a while back and found it unlistenable--noise, really.  (To be perfectly fair, I'm not hip to Taylor Swift, either.)  I keep wanting it to be like the golden-age stuff that turned my ears around in the early '90's, but, like trying to bring back the Beatles like we did in the '70s, it ain't happening.

So I'm biased. Still, I was prepared to be impressed with "Only."  I can somewhat dig that Minaj is trying to make a provocative statement by donning Nazi-esque imagery in her video (assuming that she's the one behind such a novel artistic move). On a strictly visual level, she succeeds. By evoking scratchy newsreel footage that pans through a mechanistic landscape of washed-out reds and grays, I can almost see it. Visually, it's quite impressive.

It's when her "lyrics" start rolling across the screen that she loses me. I'd quote them, but I'd have to up the safety level of my blog. And since they're plastered across the screen, I can't just turn off the sound and dig her freaky scene. They are a grotesque parody of the lowest hip-hop stereotypes that we've fallen to in--whatever this wasteland of a decade is called. (The Teens?) No narrative flow, no "story"-- just rants about activities that, in earlier days, would likely get you arrested in Boise and a number of other jurisdictions.

I can only recommend that Nicki dig out some Leni Riefenstahl next time (preferably in the original German) to get this done right. There's art, potentially, there, but I'm not feeling it.  (I'm tempted to recommend that she put on some Tribe to hear some REAL hip-hop, but I know that ain't happening, either.)

Update: Minaj disclaims any credit for the video's composition. The video's director, Jeff Osbourne, explains (Billboard):

First, I'm not apologizing for my work, nor will I dodge the immediate question. The flags, armbands, and gas mask (and perhaps my use of symmetry?) are all representative of Nazism.

But a majority of the recognizable models/symbols are American: MQ9 Reaper Drone, F22 Raptor, Sidewinder missile, security cameras, M60, SWAT uniform, General's uniform, the Supreme court, and the Lincoln Memorial. What's also American is the 1st Amendment, which I've unexpectedly succeeded in showing how we willfully squeeze ourselves out of that right every day.

I think that what Osbourne is trying to say is that he drew a deliberate analogy between symbols of Nazism and American militarism, as a way of highlighting the abuse of power in the latter, in a way that would not be automatically assumed by many Americans, particularly here (where I live, in a deep red state). Certainly something to ponder today, Veterans Day.

It still don't match the lyrics, tho.