Fact-Checking Nicki Minaj: Is She Really a Republican Voting for Mitt Romney?
"I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney/you lazy bitches are fucking up the economy," Nicki Minaj raps on Lil' Wayne's new mixtape Dedication 4. But is she really? While the credulous lamestream media is reporting on Minaj's pronouncement as the truth, we're more skeptical. So we've put the Gawker Fact-Checking Team (me) on the case and fact-checked her Romney endorsement — as well as the rest of her verse on the song:
- "I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney."
Fact check: Mostly false. A search of voter rolls in California and New York, where Minaj maintains homes, comes up empty; which means that not only is Minaj not a registered Republican voting for Mitt Romney, she's not voting at all unless she registers soon. (It's also unclear whether or not Minaj, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, is an American citizen.) - "You lazy bitches are fucking up the economy"
Fact check: Pants on Fire. As Matt Yglesias writes at Slate, "An economy with adequate aggregate demand that suffers a policy-induced negative shock to its labor supply ought to see inflation — constant demand chasing fewer workers equals higher prices — which hasn't been the American experience." - "I came from Trinidad on a temporary visa."
Fact check: Unclear. Minaj moved from Trinidad and Tobago to Queens when she was five, but we can't find out what her immigration status was at the time. - "Fuck your Lambo/Fuck your Merce/I got more money/In my fucking purse"
Fact check:LikelyFalse. Assuming Minaj is referring to the cheapest models of Lamborgini and Mercedes-Benz — the $187,000 LP 550-2 and the $35,000 C250, respectively — she's claiming that she carries around some $222,000 in her purse, or about 9.5" of $100 bills stacked on top of one another. While not out of the question, the scenario seems unlikely. Update: We've been informed that "Merce" refers to the Lamborghini Murcielago, which has an MSRP of $382,000, or about 16.4" of bills, stacked. We're upgrading this one to False. - "In Malibu, I'm by the sea section/And all these bitches is my sons (yeah, c-section)."
Fact check: Pathological. While Malibu abuts the Pacific Ocean, no part of it is near a sea, and there is no Malibu "sea section." Furthermore, Minaj has no children, and there's no evidence that all the bitches in Malibu are her sons. - "Out in Miami I be chillin' with a zombie."
Fact check: Totally false. Zombies are not real.