When are we going to drop the Angry Black Woman stereotype?
Let’s rewind a bit. In January, Nicki Minaj got into a ‘feud’ with Farrah Abraham, teen mom TV star turned adult actress. When the media covered the (largely irrelevant) spat, they used pictures of Abraham smiling and Minaj scowling. A typical perpetuation of the racist Angry Black Woman stereotype. Thankfully, Minaj was having none of it. She took to Twitter and was kind enough to point publications to pictures of herself smiling instead.
You might be wondering what in the world this has to do with her show in Dubai on Friday night. The answer is: everything.
I’ve never seen a performer smile as much as Minaj did up on that stage.
I’ve been to plenty of shows in my life, but Minaj’s gig (the first event at the new Autism Rocks Arena near Dubai Outlet Mall) reminded me exactly why pop music is so important. Because it’s fun. Undiluted, untouchable, unbelievable fun. I’ve never seen a crowd in Dubai enjoy themselves as much as the crowd on Friday.
Do you know how hard it is to get teenagers to let go of their inhibitions and dance? In public? Not two feet away from other humans? And I’m not talking about hopping around in their spot — but borderline breakdancing.
Now picture thousands of young people forming little clusters in the crowd with their best friends and losing their minds to their favourite Minaj tracks, of which they know every single word. Watching them was almost worth the ticket price alone.
Minaj’s energy was pure. Pure joy, pure power, pure silliness. Minaj is a performer who knows her craft — and her fans — inside out. For an hour, she was 100 per cent present, although she admitted to toning down for Dubai. A contrast to her more flashy numbers, she was in a beige unitard with long, golden frills and a small suede heel.
Before Anaconda, she apologetically told the crowd she wouldn’t be doing her usual “freaky” routine. “I don’t even know how to tone it down. But I love you?” Her choreography was tame at best. Weirdly, she even censored most of the language in real time, something I don’t recall seeing at any other gig.
In between telling her fans to never quit on their dreams, giving a young woman in the crowd the microphone to absolutely kill her verse in Trey Songz’s Bottoms Up, and reassuring everyone how much she loved them, she blew through all the big hits and collaborations. Moment 4 Life. Beez in the Trap. Super Bass. Starships. Flawless (Beyonce). Truffle Butter (Drake, Lil Wayne). Dance (Big Sean).
This is epic: @NICKIMINAJ hands over the mic to a fan in Dubai and she kills it. @117_Live pic.twitter.com/i2gniqepHD
tabloid! (@GulfNewsTabloid) March 25, 2016
She masterfully took the show to a more emotional place, too, starting with boyfriend Meek Mill’s All Eyes On You (black-and-white photos of them played on the big screen), followed by Pills N Potions.
Minaj sneaked in a few singing parts between her rap verses, showing off her capable vocals and making us want for more, but she mostly gave her backup singer Keisha Renee the floor. Renee chilled us with her vocal runs on Save Me.
Post-gig, it’s proving pretty hard to stop humming all those songs to myself as I walk around the apartment. And the next time someone wants to use a picture of Minaj scowling in a news report, I’ll have a few shots of her dimply smile right on my iPhone that I can provide them myself.
