nicki minaj
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Celebrating Ourselves: A Toast to #TeamNatural
The year 2017 was a good year for black hair. Solange did the absolute most, impressing us with African-inspired avant-garde hairstyles. Then there was Erykah Badu—aka “Sara Bellum,” aka “Fat Belly Bella,” aka “Medulla Oblongata,” aka “Low Down Loretta Brown,” aka “Analogue Girl in a Digital World”—who pushed all the way through in what she…
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Judge of Characters: Trump Helps Black People Now?
To hear the authorities tell it, UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley all decided that stealing from a store while their team was in China was the best idea ever, and they were subsequently caught, arrested and faced 10 years in a Chinese prison. But then the impossible happened! Your president,…
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All of Kanye West’s GOOD Fridays Tracks, Ranked
Seven years ago this month, we were all giddy with the hype and secrecy behind Kanye West’s upcoming fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Many consider that album to be Kanye’s magnum opus (not me … that honor belongs to Graduation) and the last vestige of the “Old Kanye” before he completely succumbed…
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Is Nicki Minaj Being Slut Shamed for Her Paper Mag Cover?
So, Nicki Minaj has upped the ante on black female sexuality by shooting a pretty explicit Paper Magazine cover with herself in a menage a trois. In Paper magazine’s Winter 2017 #BreaktheInternet cover, the rapper appears to be eating her own p*ssy on the mag cover in three different looks. But what for some is…
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Nicki Minaj’s Brother Found Guilty of Child Rape, Faces 25 to Life
In one of the most disturbing stories of the year, Jelani Maraj, older brother of rapper Nicki Minaj, was found guilty Thursday of predatory sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child in a nearly three-week-long rape case. As previously reported by The Root, Maraj, 38, stood accused of repeatedly raping his stepdaughter starting…
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Defense Claims Girl and Mother Falsified Rape Claims Against Jelani Maraj to ‘Shake Down’ Nicki Minaj for Money
The child-rape trial against Jelani Maraj drew to a close Monday with prosecutors and the defense presenting their closing arguments. While prosecutors emphasized the bravery of the two children who testified—Maraj’s 14-year-old stepdaughter and her younger brother—and the physical evidence against Maraj, defense attorney David Schwartz pressed the claim that the rape charges were all…
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Girl at Center of Rape Trial of Nicki Minaj’s Brother Gives Horrifying Details in Testimony
Trigger warning: Very vivid descriptions of rape and sodomy as told by the alleged victim herself. The former stepdaughter of Nicki Minaj’s brother gave horrifying details Monday about how her former stepfather allegedly repeatedly raped her in their Long Island, N.Y., home beginning when she was just 11 years old. The 13-year-old testified that Jelani…
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Nicki Minaj Will Not Be Taking the Stand as a Witness for Her Brother at His Trial on Charges He Raped a Child: Report
It looks like Twitter might be able to stop dragging Nicki Minaj over reports that she planned to testify on her brother’s behalf at his trial on charges that he raped a child. Contrary to previous reports, it appears that the rapper will not make an appearance on the witness stand after all. TMZ reports…
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Nicki Minaj and Women Like Her Are No Friends of Mine: The Politics of Defending Real-Life Monsters
This week, pop megastar Nicki Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj, 37, was back in court to answer to charges that he sexually assaulted his stepdaughter multiple times a week. If convicted, he faces a possible life prison sentence. The allegations, first reported by the preteen’s brother, who said he witnessed the abuse firsthand, testified that he…