Who's Nikki?

Hey hi hello, how are you guys? Hope you're all doing okay. I don't know how to start off my blog post so the logical thing for me was to ask how you're doing. Speaking of LOGICal, I'm here to talk about Logic's song, "Nikki." I normally don't listen to much rap or hip hop, but my friend got me into Logic a while ago and "Nikki" really hit me, so I want to share it with you.

I really hope you're listening to the song right now because it was really hard for me to figure out how to make the video thingy work. Anyways, let's get started! Before "Nikki" came out, there were a lot of questions as to who Nikki was. Logic made a few references to Nikki, like in his song "Growing Pains |||":

"I need Nikki, where is Nikki
Baby girl please come and get me now"

Logic had his audience thinking that Nikki was some girl he knew, or maybe she was a girlfriend or whatever! It's hard to think that Nikki isn't some girl; he really does a good job lyrically making Nikki seem like she was someone he REALLY knew throughout his life, especially when we listen to the song "Nikki" itself. For example:

"All these other bitches on my dick but I can't fuck with that
You the only girl I need I gotta have you back" 

Or...

"I love it when you're fresh
I love it when I take your top off and we share the same breath" 

Ha, okay bud. Seems like you're getting pretty intimate there, huh? I mean what else could you possibly be referring to when you talk about bitches on your dick or taking a top off? But, as we listen to more of the song, Logic catches us off guard:

"But lately I've been feeling like a slave for the nicotine
Said I'm a slave for the nicotine
I'm a muthafuckin slave ya
Nikki, Nikki slave for ya"

Ha! Turns out Nikki isn't some girl; Nikki is a reference to nicotine, an addictive stimulant, which is in tobacco (cigarettes). In an interview, Logic talks about how he never got into any hardcore drugs, but he's been addicted to cigarettes ever since he was young, which we could probably figure out from listening to the song. He thought that the song would seem corny since not people smoke cigs and it's looked down upon. So he made it in a way where his listeners would be thrown off. He purposely made the first part of the song seem like he was talking about a girl because he wanted people going through breakups to relate to it. The second part was relatable to anyone with an addiction.Logic stated, "I wanted to make it sound so that if anybody struggling with crack addiction, cocaine, heroin, weed, alcohol, fuckin pills, ANYTHING, could listen to this song and go, 'That's my Nikki.'"

When I first heard the song, I had goosebumps. I personally have never been addicted to anything, but I thought it was really clever as to how he constructed it. After taking another look, I thought, "how could I classify this song?" Is it counter hegemonic? Or does it fit into cultural hegemony? For those of you who don't know what cultural hegemony is (I mean we've been talking about it in class for weeks idk how you wouldn't know), it's basically the status quo or social norm. The main theme in "Nikki" is addiction and what we thought was a breakup. Is addiction hegemonic? Drugs and alcohol obviously have to be bought, unless you can somehow make your own alcohol or produce your own drugs. If you can, kudos to you. But those people who do have to buy their drugs or alcohol kinda give the economy an advantage. So with this in mind, addiction would fall under the dominant ideology of consumerism. Consumerism is pretty much the concept that the consumption of goods is helpful for the economy. It's mostly emphasized by marketing things into everyday life. So, I guess the concepts in "Nikki" would fit into American cultural hegemony.

Besides consumerism, there was only one other ideology that I could connect to "Nikki": machismo (aka the male ego). What's the cool thing that our society likes to promote to men? Other than having sex, I'd say that partying, drinking, and doing drugs is a very strong presence in our society, especially when it comes to men. Sure, it's the "cool" thing to do. But when does it stop? Drinking or doing drugs consistently makes it hard for people to stop, aka addiction.

I still love "Nikki" even though it contains hegemonic ideologies like consumerism and machismo. I have a lot of respect for the creativity Logic uses and how it's so personal to him. Plus, my best friend was the one who showed me this song so I'll always connect it to her. Anyways, I hope that you liked the song as much as I did. And make sure that you don't end up being a slave for the Nikki.

Maia M.