Who knew Nicki Minaj’s hit single, Anaconda, would be the platform for environmental change and protest in India.

The former Unilever thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, India,  has been accused of disposing  of toxic mercury waste at a scrapyard in 2001. Since then, 45 people have died  and more than 500 have been affected. Though Unilever has denied wrong doing, India’s Sofia Ashraf is calling the company out and asking for supporters to sign a petition in hopes of convincing the company to clean up its act.

Ashraf, who’s no stranger to rapping about social issues, changed the lyrics of Minaj’s song to send a clear and direct message to the polluters. In the Unilever “diss” track, Ashraf  pulls no punches, describing the death and destruction that the waste disposal has caused with unflinching clarity: “By the way, what’d they say? That their factory was safe as day. They don’t trust a word of what their workers say.”

Photo courtesy of Jhatkaa.org
Photo courtesy of Jhatkaa.org

– HOC Staff Writer