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Upon closer review, though, in several of these scenes, the camera shakes and cants, as if “the earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken …It shall fall and not rise again…but there shall be new heavens and a new earth…(Isaiah 24:19)” Ms. This would seem to undermine Minaj’s message of resistance to sin. (Yes, the references to Troy and Paris are Greek mythological rather than biblical, but a person who commands such a depth and breadth of knowledge of the classics can’t restrain herself to one phylum of symbology.) At this point it makes sense to mention the provocative dancing sprinkled throughout the video. So in effect, Minaj is talking about Eiffel, however obliquely. Is it simply coincidence that her lovers are named Michael and Troy? Michael, the archangel who leads the Lord’s army to victory over the forces of Satan and Troy, the ancient Greek city whose denizen Helen was so beautiful that her husband, Menelaus, started a war after her abduction by…Paris, the French city that houses the Eiffel Tower. She raps “ bigger than a tower / I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout Eiffel.” A tower, built to demonstrate mankind’s mastery over physical laws, that ultimately leads to confusion and disorientation: does this not sound like the Tower of Babel? Minaj’s ingenuity doesn’t stop there. Again, Minaj rarely disseminates her message so obviously. How much clearer could she be? Her next romantic partner, Michael, is another dangerous character who can offer Minaj physical treats that she professes to enjoy. She could have mentioned any other type of lettuce, yet she chooses a simile including a delicious tossed Romaine salad. Couldn’t this stanza also be interpreted as a realization that, as written in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death”? Barely a minute later, Minaj says, “he tossed my salad like his name Romaine” (emphasis mine). Discussing her first partner, Troy, Minaj refers to the hedonistic lifestyle that he–and by extension, she–led: “gun in my purse / b*tch I came dressed to kill / who wanna go first? / I had ‘em pushin’ daffodils / I’m high as hell / I only took half a pill.” While on the surface Minaj appears to be glorifying a jet-set lifestyle of drugs, designer clothes, and other elements of mammon, she has already hinted that she doesn’t work that way. Later in the video, we’ll see how Minaj suggests that human beings should deal with such urges. Minaj’s bold choices of scenery and costuming imply that the temptations of the flesh, while powerful and seemingly irresistible, must be met head-on and defeated. (To be fair, apple-shaped behinds have appeared before in rap and hip-hop iconography, as in A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum”.) However, as we continue our analysis, we’ll see that Minaj is undoubtedly referring to that apple, the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in…The Garden of Eden. Prominent images of the female posterior, often positioned within the frame so that the contours resemble an apple. What do we notice at the very outset? Scantily clad, callipygian beauties cavorting in a tropical setting that might be considered Paradise, an…Eden of sorts. Minaj to make her grander, counterintuitive point.

This song is, of course, Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda.” We’ll perform a critical analysis on both the song and the video to answer the following question: what is Minaj referring to with “Anaconda”? Many images are NSFW, even though such prurient material is necessary for Ms.

However, one song bucks the trend of shallowness, salaciousness, and simplicity with a stunning density of biblical and Christian ontological references. A look at the Billboard Top 100 for September 27, 2014, might bear this out, with songs unabashedly promoting body parts, partying, and whatever else will play to the vast middle. “Manufactured,” “unimaginative,” and “crass,” are just a few adjectives used to describe the aural tastes of our teens and young adults. Much has been written and spoken about the questionable musical choices of the generation called the Millennials.