Why Nicki Minaj Should Not Respond to Keys

I'm sure by now you have all seen Keys diss of Nicki Minaj. Everyone is re-uploading the video to their own channels, and bloggers are still talking about it. But if I were Nicki Minaj I wouldn't respond. For one Keys killed her in the first verse, but that isn't the real reason. I get the feeling that Keys is trying to pull what 50 Cent did to Ja Rule. Keys has a lot of skill but the primary difference between the two is one of style. Keys likes to rap hard and go the traditional route, whereas Nicki Minaj has a totally different technique.

What killed Ja Rule is that he actually tried to respond to 50 Cent. His best effort was Clap Back, but the majority of his responses to 50 were weak and uninspired, desperate at best. I actually continued to purchase Ja Rule's work and he become even worse on each album. His biggest mistake was to switch up a style that had been working well for him so far. He had a lot of fans that were still looking for that old swagger, and he did give it to us on a song he did with R. Kelly but with each single he was getting further and further away from his niche.

50 Cent, on the other hand, then offered us his own take on what Ja Rule used to do with songs like 21 Questions. People say that Nicki Minaj is fake, pretentious and whatever else they have to say about her. That isn't a bad thing if she can hold her own lyrically. There should be plenty of room in hip-hop for people to do different things. The funny thing about it all is that when Nicki Minaj herself was underground and dissing mainstream rappers she didn't get a fraction of the attention that Keys was getting.

Which brings me to my other point. There are enough bloggers, writers, journalists, and other haters who have it in for Nicki Minaj that the wrong response, or one that is not is strong as how Keys dissed her, would not accomplish anything at all. People really want to see Nicki fail. The irony of it is that the more people attack her image the harder that image becomes. At the end of the day it all rests upon the fans. If they like what Nicki is doing and they want more of that image she may as well continue upon that path until they get tired of it.

Nicki is only doing what the average artist does. They hear the opposition, but they also know that the opposition does not buy their records. Jay-Z tried to switch it up and his fans voted with their wallets and now he is back to the rapper he was before he changed and tried to get his fans to think. We can complain about Jay all we want, until people stop buying his work you will continue to get more of the same. If Nicki wanted the same fan base that Keys have she could do what Keys does but I don't think that those are the fans that Nicki is after.

There is a time for duking it out and a time that you have to stick to the plan. Right now Keys is a diversion, a nuisance trying to get a seat at the table herself. She isn't posing a significant threat to Nicki Minaj. Other rappers that are mainstream that say that they have a problem with Nicki aren't really posing any threat either. So she may as well stay the course ...