I am not Jasmine, I am Aladdin

 Up in BC-HF we love us some Nicki Minaj.  A spangled, glamor-haired rap siren is just exactly what we need when we have low self esteem or a burning rage.  It only helps that she dresses to kill and isn't half bad with iambic pentameter.
Recently we caught a rare but beautiful incarnation of Nicki Minaj in one of the latest Lonely Island music videos, "The Creep" also featuring another of our all-time favorites, John Waters.
Nicki was spectacled and blazered, and anyone who knows us knows that glasses and nerd gear make our panties drop all to hell.  Nicki is of course no exception to this rule, and looks swell as fuck in big frames.
But there are so many variations to Minaj's appearance that it makes it nigh impossible to choose which one we like the best.  Kimono?  Erudite?  Monroe? Peacock hair?
In truth our approach to her is not unlike our approach to many other artists with diverse oeuvres.  Take Marcel Duchamp, for instance, the father of modernism.  His pieces on their own are breathtaking, make no mistake, but to see his work all together as a collection shows you how much of a genius he was.  I honestly feel as though this also applies to Minaj.  To be sure, there is a discrepancy between pop icons and dada icons, but at heart they are fairly similar.  They both succeed in funneling our society through an unique lens, and effectively root their images in our brains.

Minaj goes beyond what many female rap artists have in terms of self-definition.  We hear a lot of songs about being the princess or the queen, but minaj states that she is neither, she is the king.  It takes being a misogynist to a whole new level, and dig it we do.
"I am not Jasmine, I am Aladdin."

 Nicki's cultured cranium is not only home to a bevy of ideas, but also an infinite number of varied and striking hairstyles.  One which seems the most distinct is basically her own creation.  A veritable Nicki Minaj Swooping Bob, it is bi-level but in no way mullet-like.

 In spite of being in the throes of media saturation, Nicki has managed to continue to develop and grow rather than streamline herself.  Not only that, but her music is at once relate-able and polished.  Her seemingly favorite wordplay scheme offers a fresh and direct apporach to hip hop and rap while implementing highly visual similes.
i.e
"Overseas, church vatican"
"when I pull up, vroom, motorbike"
"blow steam, radiator"
etc.

 A significant portion of Minaj's appeal is the overwhelming sense of artistic flair.  At first some may only see wild and crazy hair and unconventionality, but Nicki continues to pull out all the stops in the aesthetic taste department.  Her style is very her - but at the same time unpredictable.  She has an undeniable knowledge of classical art and performance - evidenced in the beautiful ribbon and draped sets in her "Your Love" video.  In spite of the genre her music is lumped into, her visual appeal is highly diversified.