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Why is Nicki Minaj’s MTV Video Vanguard Award honor important?

By Ingrid Vasquez

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 20: Rapper Nicki Minaj holds her award for best hip-hop video in the press room at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 20: Rapper Nicki Minaj holds her award for best hip-hop video in the press room at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images) /
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The MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) are coming at the end of the month and with anticipation has come another important announcement. Nicki Minaj has been announced as this year’s Video Vanguard Award honoree. The award is given to an artist that has made an “outstanding contribution” to music and pop culture. Her nomination comes after two years without the award having any recipients. Minaj is also only the second female rapper to receive the award and will attend the ceremony this year for the first time since 2018.

The VMAs, set to air live from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Sunday, Aug. 28 at 8 PM ET, will also feature a medley performance from the rap star.  She is a 17-time VMAs nominee and a five-time winner VMA award winner. She won Best Hip Hop Video in 2011 and also took home the Moon Person for Best Power Anthem for the Megan Thee Stallion collab “Hot Girl Summer” in 2019. This year she is nominated for Best Hip Hop for “Do We Have A Problem?” with Lil Baby.

Before the nomination, Missy Elliot was the only female rapper to have been given the award.

Previous winners also include other female musicians such as Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Janet Jackson. Additional winners include Michael Jackson, Kanye West, the Beatles, Justin Timberlake, R.E.M., Tom Petty, David Bowie, Beastie Boys, and the Rolling Stones,

Minaj is only the fourth rapper to receive the award. Before Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliot had received the award, only LL Cool J and  Kanye West were recipients. However, she is included in a category where seven out of nine of the honorees since 2010 have been women. The only male honorees during this time have been Justin Timberlake and Kanye West.

Can you say, girl power?

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