Watch Nicki Minaj's NSFW promo for Anaconda – video
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Version 0 of 1. It was never going to offer a delicate, ethological insight into the non-venomous snake found in tropical South America. The artwork for Nicki Minaj’s new single Anaconda had already been deemed not safe for work – with the rapper aping the likes of Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown while promoting Air Jordan VIs in the process – but the video is as confrontational and twerk-based as was alluded to in her various Instagram trailers. The video, which features scenarios including Minaj and her dancers writhing in the jungle, Drake looking traumatised while getting a lapdance, and some whipped-cream and kitchen-based cliches, berates those with slightly less well-formed derrières. It was released just a few days before this week’s MTV Video Music awards, which Minaj will be appearing at, and holds particular poignancy a year on from Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke’s provocative performance. If her video is any indication of what her performance at the show might entail, it is likely to antagonise conservatives involved with the Parents Television Council, who this week are reported to have issued a preemptive warning to the VMAs, and asked the them to “commit publicly” against the “explicit sexual content” that has become associated with the award show. Anaconda’s release also comes just a few days after David Cameron announced the launch of a government pilot programme to introduce age ratings on some online music videos – a scheme that seems to have good intentions behind it, but could turn out to be another fruitless ploy to win votes; perhaps instead the government should be tackling the misrepresentation of women in media by challenging the market that creates them. Whether or not Nicki is at home currently debating these points as righteously as I am, I do not know, but the spotlight that is currently being shone on sexually provocative content can surely only help with the promotion of her new album, The Pink Print, which is due to be released before the end of the year. If you’re sat at least five metres away from your co-workers and family members, take a look at the video and let us know what you think. |