Bark + Bite

While everyone freaks over Nicki Minaj's Mitt Romney line, let's appreciate how amazing "Mercy" is

Nicki Minaj got tongues wagging when her feature on Lil' Wayne's Dedication 4 mixtape hit the web. Teaming up with Weezy for a Young Money take on G.O.O.D. Music's "Mercy," Nicki proclaims that she's "a Republican, votin' for Mitt Romney."

The blogs and media outlets ran with that line and immediately screeched that Nicki Minaj had betrayed her largely minority and liberal fan base.

Except she already claimed to be chilling with zombies in that same verse and for some reason, no one took that seriously. Go figure.

The Village Voice did a brilliant takedown of the whole "Nicki Minaj endorsed Mitt Romney" ridiculousness, so head over there and read it if you feel like hemming and hawing over what should be an obvious example of hyperbole.

The rest of us (including Nicki Minaj superfan Senator Marco Rubio) would like to get back to dissecting Nicki's spectacular verse on "Mercy."

Listen to Nicki's guest verse on Lil' Wayne's new track below

Drake and Meek Mill praise and worship themselves in "Amen" video

For readers who are more familiar with the pop-side of hip-hop, Meek Mill might not be a familiar name. But Drake has taken him on as a brother in hip-hop, adding him to this who's who of opening acts on his Club Paradise tour.

Oh, and he also happened to be right next to Drake when that whole Drake/Chris Brown fight went down in the club. So there's that too.

In the video for their collaboration, you can't help but think of that fight in the NYC club that resulted in Chris getting chin checked in the scenes where Drake and Meek toast and pop bottles in the club. Somebody should probably hold Chris as he watches this video cause he might have painful flashbacks.

The video itself isn't much to write about. It serves as a hybrid tour/club video, as scenes of the young bucks (J.Cole, Meek Mill, Kendrick Lamar) on the Club Paradise tour are mixed in with shots of Drizzy (rockin' a basic red Lacoste polo) and Meek performing in the city of Camden.

See if you can watch the video and not think of that fight in the club.

Pitbull calls on Shakira for whitewashed crossover pop anthem "Get It Started"

Imagine that. Somehow, a collaboration between Latin superstars Pitbull and Shakira ended up sounding more like something produced at a rave in Berlin than in the barrios of Miami or Bogota.

"Get It Started," the lead single for Pitbull's next album Global Warming, is a fist-pumping slice of europop, the brand that has seen Pitbull switch from rollin' in the hood in long white Tees to ballin' in St. Tropez in a brand name blazer.

Shakira brings her trademarked goat yodel to the vocals, but none of her pelvic thrusting spice. In fact, we can probably expect more of this on her next album as Shaki has been booking studio time with RedFoo and DJ Afrojack. So like it or not, Shakira's going dance.

Pitbull and Shakira make good but not exciting music together on "Get It Started." Their scintillating collaboration on "Rabiosa" for Shakira's last album sounds like a much authentic effort than this one. But it's not bad, just not caliente.

Listen to the new Pitbull single featuring Shakira below

Lil' Wayne says women deserve respect, but has he heard his own music?

Lil' Wayne deserves props for standing by his artist, Nicki Minaj, when she felt disrespected by DJ Peter Rosenberg at Hot 97's Summer Jam concert earlier this month.

But now, Weezy F. Baby is taking things a step further and saying that he believes all women are deserving of such respect. Here's the money quote from a recent interview.

“First and foremost Nicki Minaj is a female,” Lil Wayne told MTV news in Atlanta recently. “I don’t know what anyone else believes, but I believe females deserve the ultimate respect at all times no matter, when or where or how.”

Wait, what? This is coming from the same dude who dropped this feminist call to arms in Birdman's "Pop Bottles":

"Okay, start wit straight shots and then pop bottles / Pour it on the models, shut up, bitch, swallow/ If you can't swallow, shut up, bitch, gargle"

Or how about the fact that he has four different baby mamas, none of whom he ever bothered to wife? That's the ultimate sign of respect.

We at Bark + Bite reached out to several women in music for their reactions to Wayne's comment. Check out what they had to say below.

Kanye and G.O.O.D. Music roll out dopplegangers for "Mercy" video

Kanye and his G.O.O.D. Music crew have finally unveiled the video for their single "Mercy." And it's pretty much an uninterrupted, black and white affair shot in a parking garage with multiple versions of themselves making appearances in the clip.

Attack of the clones, is the deeper meaning here perhaps?

Watch the video for G.O.O.D. Music's new single below

Lil' Kim hits the road in her Return of the Queen tour video diary

Lil' Kim is reliving her former glories to the fullest on her Return of the Queen tour. Her tour bus is decked out with Hardcore imagery and the music for her first-ever tour video diary also reaches back to the earlier material in her catalogue. No "Download" or "Black Friday" here.

The footage, which really runs along without much of a narrative, follows Kim on her trek at various stops in her tour. The livest of which is definitely her concert in the Bronx, where Eve and Missy make an appearance.

Check out the footage below

G.O.O.D. Music vs YMCMB: The hip-hop beef with no name

In a time where some of the largest artists at the forefront of hip-hop aren't "gangsta," there has curiously been a revival in hip-hop "beef" recently. This is not necessarily the "beef" that we are all used to. Unlike Tupac's shots, which explicitly named his targets, today's beef is all about veiled subliminals that don't call out its targets by name.

Pusha-T launched a missile when he released "Exodus 23:1" featuring The-Dream, which carried these contentious references, which many took as shots at Drake.

"Contract all fucked up / I guess that means you all f--ked up / You signed to one n----, that's signed to another n----, that's signed to three n----s."

"Now that's bad luck / Damn that sh-t even the odds now / You better off selling this hard now / You call it living out your dreams / You can't fly without your wings."

Apparently Lil' Wayne, Young Money's head honcho, felt a certain way about Pusha T's words in the new song although neither his name or Drake's was ever exclusively mentioned.

In reaction to "Exodus 23:1" Lil' Wayne sent out the tweet below.

Nicki Minaj falls for that street love in the "Right By My Side" video

Ever the calculating businesswoman, Nicki Minaj took a relatively low-budget video and managed to spin it into a must-see video. How? By placing her two soft lips on hip-hop legend and recently divorced rapper Nas.

The romance angle with Drake worked for a little bit, but that one at least made some sense, since they had the Young Money connection between them. But Nas and Nicki? By smooching and cuddling with Nicki, Nas is lending the Nickster some of his street cred, which has taken a hit since Nicki began producing dance-pop anthems like "Turn Me On" and "Starships."

And the deal is mutually beneficial, as it provides Nas with some much needed PR and star power for his upcoming album, Life Is Good, which has seen little buzz. The only problem with this genius pairing? Chris Brown has to tag along.

Watch the video for Nicki's latest single below