The public embrace of Donald Trump by Nicki Minaj marks a full break from the culture that once crowned her as rap’s reigning force. Speaking at a Treasury Department–hosted summit in Washington, D.C., on January 28 to launch “Trump Accounts” — a child investment bank account for newborns — she told the crowd, “I will say that I am probably the president’s No. 1 fan.” The moment landed as Minaj’s latest step in a years-long drift away from hip-hop’s center, shaped by controversy, alienation, and a growing comfort with grievance politics.
Trump’s orbit offers a familiar refuge for public figures who feel rejected by mainstream culture. For Minaj, the turn toward populist loyalty mirrors a pattern observed across celebrity politics, in which backlash becomes proof of persecution and controversy transforms into identity.
Her declaration as Trump’s “No. 1 fan” did not arrive out of nowhere. Rap has largely closed ranks without her. In that vacuum, grievance found a louder home. But this wasn’t the first time rappers had openly voiced their support for Trump. Back in 2016, Kanye West showed his support for Trump during the elections and the years that followed.
According to XXL Magazine, there were numerous instances where rappers have shown their support towards Trump. In 2023, Waka Flocka Flame posted “TRUMP2024” on X at the height of Trump’s second run as President. In 2024, Kodak Black and Fivio Foreign have shamelessly hopped on a track that features the President called “ONBOA47RD,” and Azealia Banks showering her praise over Trump in an interview, saying “Nothing can take him down.” Although in April 2025, Banks said she regrets voting for the President.
However, Minaj’s drift into right-wing politics did not happen overnight. Over the past two years, she has appeared at Turning Point USA events in 2025, praised Vice President JD Vance in the same program, reshared White House TikToks promoting Trump-era talking points on immigration and trans rights, and amplified Trump’s posts on Truth Social, moves that increasingly tied her public image to far-right spaces.
At the same time, her standing in rap culture continued to slip. Megan Thee Stallion’s 2024 single “Hiss” reignited long-running tension between the two, with lyrics widely read as a reference to Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty, a registered sex offender who later faced probation for failing to register in California. Minaj’s online tirades then pushed her away from much of the industry.
After all that hubbub, Minaj stopped receiving the cultural grace that had once been extended to her. The industry moved on. So did much of her audience. What followed was a steady slide toward political spaces that reward far-right defiance over accountability. What once read as provocation now looks like a permanent political realignment, one that completely abandons what they stood for in music. In Nicki Minaj’s case, her heel turn unfolded slowly, fueled by countless disputes, isolation, and the pull of a political culture that thrives on a sense of being wronged.
