"Nicki Minaj Crashes Hip-Hop’s Boys Club" by Brent Staples

I read a second article by Brent Staples, this one called "Nicki Minaj Crashes Hip-Hop’s Boys Club". I personally think that the title is unclear. Just from reading the title, I thought the article was going to be about Nicki Minaj showing up uninvited to an all men's hip-hop club. After reading the article it was clear to me what his motives were when he used that title, but at first glance I do not think it is descriptive of what the article is about. Staples's opening paragraph is not as catchy or all-encompassing as in his other article, "Inside the Warped World of Summons Court", but it does introduce the idea of hip-hop as an influential and ever-growing aspect of pop culture.

In this article, Staples explains Nicki Minaj's rise to fame, and her unexpected and contradictory spotlight in a man's world. His stance in this article is that while it's too early to tell whether Minaj will bring something new to the table as far as lyrical creativity goes, she should be admired for opening new doors for women around the world. He seems to digress a bit towards the middle of the article, where he starts criticizing large corporations and capitalism. In my opinion, this decreased the effectiveness of his argument because it was off topic and I could not relate to it on a personal level. That part was even boring to read.

Even though I'd say that the paragraphs about the radio DJ's verbal battle with Nicki Minaj was the only evidence in Staples's argument that men do not appreciate the introduction of women into the hip-hop industry, the article was still fairly effective. It did not, however, provoke an emotional response from me. This may be because he did not use enough inflammatory words, or as much slang as in his other article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/nicki-minaj-crashes-hip-hops-boys-club.html?_r=2&ref=brentstaples