If I had more time during my presentation on Friday, I would have loved to share some lyrics that I find useful in the discussion of Nicki Minaj as a necessary force for women in the music industry.

Aside from Fly by Nicki Minaj and Rihanna that I showed during my presentation, the song Still I Rise by Minaj indicates her role:

Still I rise, still I fight, still I might crack a smile

Keep my eyes on the prize, See my haters tell them hi

One day you’ll remember this, One day when we reminisce

Nothing I do ever is good enough for the music biz (x2)

…Every time a door opens for me that means you, just got a better opportunity to do you

They don’t understand these labels look at numbers it’s statistics

I lose you lose ma it’s just logistics

Anyway, real b*tches listen when I’m speaking,

cus if Nicki win then all of y’all gettin’ meetin’s! (Ayyyy)

Next, from her song Can Anybody Hear Me:

In the nick of time it just dawned on me,

I am Nicki Minaj and it’s all on me

Maybe I’ll never win, maybe I’m settlin’,

Can’t let the devil in I’m a comic book heroine

But when the wind blows, I’m so Marilyn

…I came to save a thing called Female Rap

But I hope my ninja powers,

don’t f*ck around and offend you cowards

And finally, from Minaj’s debut album Pink Friday, Here I Am:

Why is it that you can only see the worst in me?

I swear sometimes it feels like it nurtures me

But to keep it all real it’s kinda hurtin’ me

I could say I’m done with it but it lurks in me

So I’m a just tell myself that it works for me…

…It’s a joke, It’s a game

Why am I still keeping score?

I’m in pain, I’m ashamed

I’m A Woman Hear Me Roar (x5)