Quick hit: Nicki Minaj endorses Mitt Romney? Also, Bonita Applebum dismisses claims of putting anybody on.

Sometimes, rap lyrics are clear. Other times they’re just oblique disses drawing from zeitgeist. Many times they’re persona pieces, a metafictional voice that is easily conflated with the actual identity of the MC who spits them. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this: NICKI MINAJ IS NOT ENDORSING MITT ROMNEY.

Speculation around the great watercooler that is the internets are drawing this leap of conclusion from a line Minaj’s verse on Lil Wayne’s latest mixtape, Dedication 4, where she says,”I’m a Republican voting for Mitt Romney/You lazy bitches is f*cking up the economy.” The line falls in the category of oblique diss in my view (cringeworthy), not a patent endorsement of Romney. I mean, how could she? A woman who breaks down the patriarchical order in less than 60 seconds certainly couldn’t consider a candidate who’s party platform wants to govern her physical body, where the candidate’s running mate subscribes to the idea that rape is sex, and by warped logic, a form conception, (and most importantly for Minaj the MC), a party that believes that she doesn’t deserve pay equal to her male counterparts. Nah.

And Biggie always drank champagne when he was thirsty?