Nicki Minaj slammed for Nazi imagery in ‘Only’ video

Nicki Minaj and music video director Jeff Osborne have been widely criticised for using a "Nazi-inspired" aesthetic in the lyric video for Minaj's new single "Only", featuring Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Drake (who is half-Jewish).

The animated vid certainly nods towards the Third Reich, with a cartoon Minaj sat in a throne surrounded by red and black symbols, armies of tanks, foot soldiers and Brown in a lieutenant's uniform. Plus, there's no getting away from the fact that Minaj's YM (Young Money) logo in the video looks a liiiittle bit like a swastika:

Minaj joins a list of artists who've stirred controversy with their supposedly Nazi-sympthasising leanings. Joy Division allegedly took their name from a Nazi labour camp that forced Jewish women into sex slavery; David Bowie once gave a famous interview in '75 in which he appeared to flirt with Nazism, and the German shock-metal band Rammstein have long been accused of promoting right-wing values.

"Only" does use totalitarian imagery, but Nicki glorifying Hitler? It seems far-fetched to us. This tweet sums it up nicely: "Only" is so evidently a piece of theatre that it's impossible to take seriously.

Neither Minaj or Osborne have commented directly on the controversy, but the latter doesn't seem to mind the flak; he's been retweeting a mixture of praise and criticism since the video came out.

You can watch "Only" below and make your own mind up as to whether or not Nicki Minaj has gone too far.