Many Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta fans may have heard of Debra "Ms. Deb" Antney because of reality television, but she's been a formidable force in the music industry for quite some time. The Mizay Entertainment founder and CEO has handled clients including Gucci Mane, French Montana, Nicki Minaj, and her son, Waka Flocka. She's helped to shape the careers of some of our favorite top-selling artists, and in a recent interview with Street Certified Podcast, she shared her thoughts on the ongoing criticism of Nicki Minaj.
For years, people have pointed the finger at the Queen rapper with claims that she doesn't respect the female hip hop artists that have come before her. This has often caused quarrels for Minaj, but Ms. Deb clarified that not only was Minaj one of the hardest working rappers she's ever dealt with, she always gave respect to women who helped pave the way.
"Nicki changed it for me for women," Deb said. "When I watched how hard that girl—that girl worked hard. I mean, we could have knock-down drag-outs, but when she went on that stage or she went on that interview, you would never know nothing was going on. She worked. She didn't allow nothing to stop her nor interfere with anything that she was doing. That's why with women...she made it hard for me now. She set that bar high. Regardless of what people say. People talk about, 'Oh, she so nasty, she so this.' But y'all think about [it], y'all ragged that girl. You ragged her. And she paid homage to a lot of people. I'm a lot of people, but I'm not a hater to women. That, I'm not, and I'm not gonna stand for that. Period. We do no hating, but she paid a lot of homage. How much homage people wanted her to pay? I don't know. But she did pay a lot of homage."
The rap beef between Minaj and Cardi B turned physical at a New York Fashion Week event, something that set Ms. Deb on edge. "Even for now, I hate the fact that they bring Nicki and Cardi together," Deb continued. "They're two different people. Nicki and Cardi are not the same artist. So for people to bring them two against each other, I think it's horrible. I was more angrier with Nicki for feeding in. You understand what I'm saying? You don't have a reason to feed in. That platform, that bar you set is so high. If anything, you uplift her. That's how this is supposed to be. I don't respect a female out there in hip hop right now, because I ain't seen one bring another one up."
"In my day, even though you had the Queen Latifahs and the MC Lytes and all of these women—they battled, but they all performed and supported," she added. "You can't even go to a concert with a bunch of women on the stage. It's not gonna happen 'cause the ego-trippin' and the way that they all are. They're just selfish as I don't know what, so right now I don't respect none of 'em because you not coming back and uplifting anybody else that was out there. People forget so quickly where they come from and what [they] did to get to where [they] are."