News
VH1and Def Jam Records should be a shame of themselves for trying to honor hip-hop and the 25 year Anniversary of Def Jam without including the first female signed to Def Jam. In this one-on-one interview with the first lady signed to Def Ram Records, Nikki D lets off steam about the mishap and has some choice words for Nicki Minaj.
Nikki D, the first female rapper signed to Def Jam Records posted a video on Facebook expressing her displeasure with this year’s Hip-Hop Honors broadcast.
“You talk about creating history, 25 years of Hip-Hop and we begin to erase it ourselves,” she says via her video blog.
In 1989 Nichelle “Nikki D” Strong was signed to Def Jam and in 1991 released the album, Daddy’s Little Girl which contained the hit single of the same name.
“I’m really disappointed in the people who put together the Hip-Hop Honors. I’ve known you Nelson George (the producer of the show) forever. I’ve known Russell (Simmons) even longer. So it baffles me that no one called to ask me if I wanted to go to the (expletive) show. Nobody even sent me an invite to the show.”
After finding out about a Def Jam documentary that VH1 was producing Slick Rick’s wife Mandy passed along the contact information. But when it came down to the actual honors broadcast Nikki says she was not invited.
“When I was 18 years old I was on a mission to become the first female rapper at Def Jam. I hopped on a Greyhound for four days and lied to my mother saying I got a deal with Def Jam. I went through a whole lot and found Russell Simmons in six months.”
She cut her demo with the LA Posse, who was working on LL Cool J’s album at Chung King, and recorded two songs in two hours.
“We got the record to Russell and less than a month later Russell wanted to sign me. He sent me on tour with Whodini and I got to be groomed by the best. I shot a video with Alyson Williams in London before I could even shoot a video. I was in Europe for a few weeks then I put a record out, “Lettin Off Steam.”
XXLMag.com: So what do you think about some of the new female MCs that are out now?
Nikki D: There aren’t any out! Who’s out? You mean, Nicki Minaj? That’s not a rapper. That’s a girl with her ass on the screen. Nice hairdo and she’s saying some things but she’s not a rapper. She’s not an MC. She’s an artist. She’s an entertainer. There’s a difference. She can go out there and open her mouth and say whatever but people ain’t listening to her. They looking at her. And rapping is about the skill. It ain’t about your fat ass. It ain’t about your set of titties. It ain’t about that long-ass weave.
XXLMag.com: Damn, Nikki, want to let off any more steam?
Nikki D: I would like to say to everybody involved at the VH1, whoever was involved in Hip Hop Honors, all of the executives, everybody who had anything to do with that shit, you’re wrong for sitting there and watching that shit happen like that. It ain’t just about me but it’s about me and all the other people who were not included in that bill. There are a lot of other people besides Nikki D that wasn’t there but to just leave out the first female rapper signed? Yeah, that was some shitty shit.
Source: XXL Magazine
