TAMAR BRAXTON: "USHER IS A PRODUCT OF BOBBY BROWN"

Tamar Braxton was on The Queens Supreme "Virtual Court" with TS Madison. While discussing the Verzuz battles, TS Madison brought up Usher's comment about Nicki Minaj being a product of Lil Kim.

I have to give TS Madison and Tamar a standing ovation. This is the type of energy women need

when having discussions regarding female rappers, especially this tired ass Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj trope. I

am so over this narrative that was created in Lil Kim's delusional mind and made bigger by men in the industry. As a Cali girl, I never saw the similarities between Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj. It takes more than a colored wig for me to think two female a rappers are alike. I always chalk'd it up to New Yorkers hatin on each other...again.

We, as women, have got to control the female rap narrative. Men can have their opinions, but we are not obligated to take them seriously. Why would we listen to anyone who can't tell the difference between a Hot Girl and City Girl? We have to remember that men only see two types of female rappers: Lil Kim or Lauryn Hill. Since men don't take female rappers too seriously, they don't take the time to see that a female rapper may have been influenced by several female/male rappers. A femcee can embody Foxy Brown, 2 Pac, Jay-Z, and Lauryn Hill. So, Nicki Minaj is too much for their brains to envision because she is a mesh of several rappers, along with her theatrical training, and the uniqueness of being Onika Tanya Maraj from Queens. But to Usher, she is reduced to being a product of the female rapper whose image was created by a man for men.

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FROM MY PREROGATIVE TO MY WAY

Ya'll knows I love me some Usher. So, Usher slander still will not be tolerated; however, he needs to be

corrected. I love that Tamar pointed out that Usher is a product of Bobby Brown. When he first got with Jermaine Dupri, he told JD that he wanted to be like Bobby. Usher's song "My Way" is his version of Bobby Brown's "My Perogative." We can all see Bobby's influence, MJ's influence, and Gene Kelly's influence in Usher. But, we don't deny that Usher created his own unique style. If we were to reduce his legendary career to merely being a product of Bobby Brown, he would feel rightly disrespected.

To cut Usher some slack, I feel like he responded the way he did because he was attempting to downplay a Verzuz battle between Kim and Nicki. Due to his relationship with Kim, I don't think he wants to see her take another "L" to Nicki. I say this because his tone was similar to when Swizz asked about him battling Chris Brown. He views CB as a Lil bro, and he just did not seem interested in beating him. So, in Usher's attempt to save Kim, he was disrespectful to Nicki Minaj, a woman he wanted on his songs. When the "product" has surpassed the "influence" STFU.

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