Nicki Minaj's Valid Argument About Race & The Music Industry

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In a series of tweets, rapper Nicki Minaj recently suggested that the music industry has a racial bias. Her primary target was MTV's Video Music Awards. The video for her song, "Anaconda," wasn't nominated for Video of the Year, despite being viewed 19.6 million times in the first 24 hours after its release.

When the "other" girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015

The tweets stirred up a mini conflict involving fellow stars Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and others, but underneath the media frenzy was one artist's genuine concern about race, body image, and the music industry.  

If I was a different "kind" of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well. 😊😊😊

— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015

She went on to say, "Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it."

Does America prefer a particular "kind" of artist? Is it true that black female artists are under-appreciated in mainstream music?

Latoya Peterson is owner of the website Racialicious.com and editor-at-large at Fusion. She tells Takeaway Host John Hockenberry that Minaj's concerns are completely legitimate, and the media was wrong to pay so much attention to Swift.