The Barbz may be totally missing the point. While many are up in arms about their fearless leader Nicki Minaj being excluded from the trailer of the much acclaimed Netflix documentary Ladies First- A Story of Women in Hip Hop they haven’t gone far enough apparently to discover that the Pink Friday singer doesn’t appear in the documentary at all.
As one Twitter user put it: “Imma just say this: you don’t even have to be a Barb to understand Nicki Minaj and her impact on female rap,” wrote on user. “She’s the queen. Period. It is what it is. To exclude her from this is criminal and I hope it’s just the trailer she’s missing from and not the actual documentary.”
I know hard to believe right, especially as we approach the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. While MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and Rah Digga, Latto Tierra Whack and more are prominently featured in the project, the absence of Minaj’s voice is deafening.
Shawn Allen, co-producer of the docu-series, said that although the creators and producers of Ladies First, wanted to include Minaj they did not receive licensing to include her image or voice, and essentially there hands were tied. Allen added that the same was true of rapper Missy Elliott.