Nicki Minaj Refuses To Clean Her Dirty Raps, "Do People Ask Eminem To Lose Swear Words?"

Young Money star Nicki Minaj recently addressed the perception of her music being too raunchy and vile to handle, questioning why rap star Eminem is not slammed with the same criticism.

While she refuses to tone down her content, Minaj did admit kids should not be allowed to sing her dirty rhymes.

"If you asked any adult, 'Would you like your children knowing every part of your life and speaking exactly the way you speak when you talk to adults?' they'd say no, so I'm a firm believer in children remaining children," the 29-year old rapper said in an interview for the Guardian's Weekend magazine, to be published on Saturday. Nonetheless, she said she gets annoyed when people suggest she should tone down her lyrics for her young audience, claiming it is sexist. "Why do people ask me to lose swear words? Do people ask Eminem to lose swear words? Do they ask Lil Wayne to lose swear words? Nobody stops them and says 'Would you stop swearing swearing... for the children, please?'" She told the Guardian that the sensible solution was to have a clean version for the children and an explicit one for adults. (The Guardian)

In 2009, fellow New York rapper Lil Mama criticized Minaj for representing a sexual image toward younger fans.

"Nicki Minaj is a talented rapper," Lil Mama said in an interview. "She's out there, she's doing her. What she represents, I don't represent and she's doing something different, that's her lane. As the voice of the young people, Lil Mama, I focus on bringing up young girls to respect their bodies, respect theyself, do it up." (BET)

Not only a target with her raps, the platinum-selling rapper's Grammy Awards set was blasted by critics earlier this year.

Those who tuned in for Nicki Minaj's Grammy performance experienced a wave of emotion: First they were confused, then amused and then just plain angry. There was fire and a man dressed like the pope. Minaj levitated. Then, an exorcism. Viewers stared at their TVs, slack-jawed and unsure of what exactly they were watching. The religious response to Minaj's performance will surely be furious -- the Catholic League is likely firing up its angriest press release yet -- but fans' reactions were fast and frank. They had no idea what sort of spectacle they had just witnessed, but few of them liked it. (Washington Post)

She later came forward to address her controversial performance.

"I don't know what is the big issue?" she asked. The 29-year-old said her five-minute live rendition of her songs "Roman's Revenge" and "Roman Holiday," which included dancing priests, an exorcism and levitation, was just a part of a movie she's writing. "You know how people write plays and movies? That's what I did. I wrote that and I gave the world a tiny little preview of what was to come. And so I have to perform it on the set in which it would be in the movie, right?" she said. Minaj, who is known for her outrageous style, walked the Grammy red carpet in an oversized red robe with a man dressed as a pope at her side. She said her performance, which featured a film clip, was partly inspired by the 1973 movie "The Exorcist." (Associated Press)