By Calvin Stovall -

On Monday, Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg called Nicki Minaj’s new song “Starships” “one of the most sellout songs in hip hop history.” Ignoring the irony of a Hot 97 employee calling anyone or anything a “sellout,” the true issue at stake here is an artist’s right to branch out beyond the limits of their genre or art form. Since when did hip hop have the right to claim an artist as ours and ours alone? Especially when that artist has shown ambition beyond hip hop from jump.

Nicki Minaj can rap. If she wanted to, she could stay in that lane and carve out a solid career as the new rap goddess and be done with it. But why settle for that when she can be more?  I understand the sentiment shared by Rosenberg and others. I miss “the girl who murdered The Throne on “Monster” just as much Rap Radar’s Elliot Wilson. But the woman in front of us has bigger things to handle. While hip hop cries “sellout,” Nicki is taking the genre to places it’s never been. Vogue magazine and Super Bowl halftime are feats only she can pull off right now. We should be cheering her on for conquering new ground instead of criticizing what she chooses to do on it.

Everything about her Grammy night was weird, but since when was showing out at awards shows not hip hop? ODB and Kanye West know. And when did the Grammys become sacred, anyway? Hov doesn’t even show up. I don’t know what’s up with the techno pop records she’s been putting out lately, but I know they’re not for me. If she starts spitting about “doing donuts in the six-speed” again, I’ll tune back in. If she doesn’t, oh well. She has other things to handle. As artists branch out and attempt to diversify their audience, it’s up to fans to make the distinction and choose what’s for them and what isn’t. Nicki will come back home eventually. We just have to let her loose to explore first.

By staying true to herself, Nicki is doing the opposite of selling out. Selling herself short to appease shortsighted critics would be selling out. She just sells records.

Nicki and the rest of music’s new generation aren’t down to be limited by their genre. From M.I.A. to Drake, the new artist understands that stepping outside of comfort zones is the only way to grow. If they have to be sellouts in the process, then so be it. You haven’t noticed the greatest performers we have jumping genres and media like free agents in sports? Are we still mad at Will for taking his talents to acting?

That’s why it’s so hard to take Rap Radar’s claim that “Nicki’s been on a decline since that fake Lil’ Kim poster,” seriously. What does it say about our culture that we prefer a broke girl from Queens to an icon/mogul? If hip hop continues to limit its artists, the smart ones will simply leave the genre behind all together. The culture needs to grow up and get past the barriers it sets for itself and its artists before all parties outgrow it. I don’t like the tracks, I don’t care for the antics, but I love and respect her refusal to give a f— about what the critics are saying. Keep rocking, Nicki. Don’t come back until you’ve taken Gaga’s crown. Just please don’t do anything too crazy at All-Star Halftime on Sunday.

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