Does Nicki Minaj single cover disrespect Malcolm X? (BLOG)

'Lookin A-- N----' offends many with its use of 1964 Malcolm X photo Did  Nicki Minaj  go too far by using Malcolm X's ima...

'Lookin A-- N----' offends many with its use of 1964 Malcolm X photo

Did Nicki Minaj go too far by using Malcolm X's image for the cover of her new single, Lookin A-- N----?

Many people thought so after the singer debuted the single Wednesday with a not-safe-for-work, Nabil-directed video. The single's cover has Minaj's name and the single title superimposed over apicture of the civil-rights leader holding an M1 carbine and looking out his window. The original version of the photograph was first published inEbony magazine in 1964.

"Say what you will about his days as Detroit Redhustling on the streets of Harlem, there is nothing N-word like about Malcolm X," Alvin Aqua Blance writes at HipHopWired. "To equate a man that literally died for his cause — the advancement of human rights for people of color — is just wrong on multiple levels."

The single is slated to appear both on Young Money: Rise of an Empire, due March 11, and on Minaj's forthcoming album, The Pink Print.

While Minaj fans praised the track and the video, many people took exception to the cover, particularly since it comes during Black History Month. 

Check out some Twitter responses here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2014/02/13/nicki-minaj-malcolm-x-lookin-single-cover/5453741/