roman's revenge.

words.

"Plenty of people — prominent among them, Nicki Minaj — are happy to talk about Nicki Minaj’s ass, but fewer want to confront a certain sense of unease that she creates in her most provocative videos, like the stark, black-and-white clip for the 2014 single “Lookin’ Ass” (in which she quite literally guns down the male viewer) or her great 2012 collaboration with Cassie, “The Boys” (which plays out like a candy-store-hued pop-art Thelma & Louise). And it’s there in “Anaconda” too. These videos enact a certain bait-and-switch violence toward the viewer who has the audacity to think Nicki is shaking her ass for him; they draw you in with their neon-bright, sexually charged imagery, and then they suddenly, unexpectedly turn confrontational. She plays this whole narrative out in miniature in the last part of “Anaconda,” in which she gives her Twitter husband Drake a lap dance — that ends in a quick slap when he crosses the line and tries to touch her. The primary message of the scene is pretty obvious (“OH MY GOD, LOOK AT HER BUTT”), but it also seems intent on making Drizzy look a little ridiculous. “Anaconda” fades out on a shot of him looking like a chastised (and/or blue-balled) schoolboy sitting in the corner.

...The biggest hits and most-discussed viral surprises of this summer were girl-on-girl collaborations — Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX’s “Fancy”; Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj’s “Bang Bang”; Beyoncé and Nicki’s “Flawless” remix; and Ariana and Iggy’s “Problem,” on which Big Sean’s voice is reduced to a superfluous whisper. The staying power of “Anaconda” might not outlast its viral moment, but while it’s trending let’s at least acknowledge its slyly confrontational power."

VULTURE: Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’ Video Is Not Pandering to the Male Gaze