Spotify’s New Art Exhibit For Women In Rap Has Fans Questioning Nicki Minaj’s Absence

Spotify’s new exhibit honoring women in hip-hop had a glaring omission, and some fans are pretty upset about it. The Gold Standard Exhibition has taken over The Hole Gallery in New York City with portraits painted by Manon Biernacki, who depicted Cardi B, City Girls, Doja Cat, Flo Milli, GloRilla, Ice Spice, Latto, Megan Thee Stallion, Saweetie, and Sexyy Red in a realist style reminiscent of Renaissance paintings. However, when images from the show hit social media, fans of one rapper in particular — Nicki Minaj — expressed their displeasure.

“And no Nicki ??” questioned one. “Wow Spotify the most streamed female rapper of all time ??” Another railed, “Nicki gottaaaa be on the mfn ceiling somewhere because this is ridiculous. Y’all gotta be out y’all rabbit a$$ minds.” One more added a slew of other women in rap to their complaints, writing, “where is lil kim, nicki minaj, missy elliot, lauryn hill, iggy, salt n pepa? if this is the bar then the bar is an inch off the floor.”

Of course, there are arguments to be made for any number of “exclusions,” but at the end of the day, there were no criteria given for the selections other than that they’ve all got relatively recent releases currently trending on Spotify. While that number would include Nicki Minaj, it would also include a bunch of other names that weren’t selected. None of that will ever prevent the Barbz from lashing out, but then again, if they didn’t have something to complain about, would they even be the Barbz?