Recently, the hip-hop community has rallied behind ASAP Rocky following his recent incarceration in Sweden. For Nicki Minaj, the different policies of foreign countries became a raising issue leading her to pull out of her performance at Jeddah World Fest in Saudi Arabia. These two situations shared similarities for the rapper, leading her to recount a story describing how the oppression women face almost costed her freedom.
"I performed in Jamaica before & when i got off the stage I was surrounded by police with guns drawn. They were ready 2 take me to jail b/c they said I forgot to bleep a couple curses," Minaj tweeted on Tuesday. "I could make one mistake & go to jail in a diff country where women have no rights. #FreeAsap"
Minaj's story sparked confusion. Some of her followers wondered how this incident connected to Rocky's situation while others felt she was comparing the Jamaican government to Saudi Arabia's regime. As a result, her fans in the country responded to her post in defense of their homeland.
Minaj herself has strong Caribbean roots. Prior to moving to New York City, Minaj lived in Trinidad and Tobago where she was born to Trinidadian parents. Outside of this, she claims to have "love" for Jamaica. This love led her to respond to the criticism with a tweet that attempted to clarify her comments.
"Ummm for the ppl in the back, I wasn’t saying Jamaica doesn’t have women’s rights," Nicki wrote. "I gave an example of what happened in JA to explain how easy it would be to do one thing wrong in Saudia Arabia b/c I’m not aware of every single rule & be locked up. Everyone knows I love JA. STFU."
