Was Nicki Minaj’s ‘Needle’ Supposed To Be On Drake’s ‘For All The Dogs?’

nicki minaj
Getty Image

In the leadup to the release of Drake and Nicki Minaj’s respective albums, fans couldn’t help speculating whether the two Young Money artists would reunite after years of not quite collaborating with each other. In September, Nicki herself wondered aloud whether she would appear on For All The Dogs while confirming that he would show up on Pink Friday 2. While he did join her on the PF2 track “Needle,” Nicki didn’t land a spot on For All The Dogs.

In her new interview with Ebro Darden, Nicki added a new wrinkle to the tale, revealing that “Needle” was initially intended for Drake’s album. Addressing the disappointment from fans surrounding the duo only putting out one new collab, Nicki said, “He told the fans on his tour that I was gonna be on his album, and actually the song he was talking about was ‘Needle.’ But, he ended up feeling like sonically, it didn’t match for For All The Dogs and I from day one felt like it matched Pink Friday 2.”

She says she joked around with some of her friends that something would end up happening that would allow her to keep the song for herself — and it turned out she was right. “It was just God’s timing,” she said, nodding to fans’ disappointment and crediting it to neither artist announcing the change. On the bright side, though, as she points out, “It’s the perfect Drake and Nicki song!” You can check out Nicki’s full interview with Ebro below:

Nicki Minaj Explained Why There Aren’t Any ‘Pink Friday 2’ Videos, And The Barbz Won’t Be Happy

In late December, Pink Friday 2 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Nicki Minaj’s third-career No. 1 album. Pink Friday 2 also snagged the No. 1 spot on Minaj’s personal ranking of her own albums, and the latter chart matters more to Minaj. The iconic rapper sat down with Ebro for Apple Music, where she shared that initially wasn’t sold on the commercial viability of “FTCU,” which led into an explanation as to why she hasn’t dropped any Pink Friday 2 visuals. (The Beyhive can relate.)

Minaj’s story is set in the studio with J. Cole, the featured artist on her Pink Friday 2 track “Let Me Calm Down.” While there, she also played him “FTCU,” and his reaction played directly into the now-popular song’s placement on the album. Minaj explained that she had told Cole she “didn’t like the chorus because, you know, you wouldn’t be able to play it on radio.”

“[Cole] was like, ‘Who cares?’” Minaj said. “He was like, ‘Man, f*ck the radio!’ And I was like, ‘You’re right! F*ck the radio!’ And it dawned on me. Why the f*ck — this is not something I’m putting out to be as a single. This is something that’s a part of a body of work. And I didn’t even wanna put out singles. I purposefully don’t have videos out because I want y’all to listen to the music.”

So, tour visuals will have to suffice. Minaj will begin her Pink Friday 2 World Tour on March 1. See the dates here.

Watch Minaj’s conversation with Ebro above.

Nicki Minaj Teases Possibile New Version Of “FTCU” With A Male Rapper

Nicki Minaj is someone who loves to keep her fans engaged with her music and the process of making it happen. That was especially true throughout the rollout of Pink Friday 2. The album of course is a long-awaited sequel to her first Pink Friday, which was released back in 2010. While it has not been as well received as the pilot entry, the second installment has plenty of bangers on it.

One of which is the third cut, “FTCU.” It features a banging trap instrumental from the ever-so-talented ATL Jacob. One of the main draws of the song is the presumable shot thrown in the direction of Megan Thee Stallion. “Stay in your Tory lane, b****, I’m not Iggy.” While it is a fun listen on its own, there could be a new edition in the works.

Read More: Tiffany Haddish Compares Katt Williams To Charleston White Amid “Club Shay Shay” Fallout

Nicki Minaj Has Her Barbz Guessing

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by The Neighborhood Talk (@theneighborhoodtalk)

According to HipHopDX, the Queen of New York sent out a tweet that has since been deleted. She throws out the question for her Barbz to debate over. “If there were a male rapper featured on the 3rd verse of “FTCU,” who would be your guess? #PinkFriday2.” Fans in the comments section of The Neighborhood Talk‘s Instagram post had plenty of interaction as they gave their ideal partner in rhyme. “BIG SEAN would body that Verse like Nicki bodied her A$$ verse,” one person says. Another goes, “2 Chainz, I was already surprised he wasn’t on the album. But he def gone match her sassy/bougie. 💁🏾‍♂️😂 Easy.” A few others that were guessed were Moneybagg Yo, Gucci Mane, Lil Durk, Gunna, and more.

What are your initial thoughts on Nicki Minaj hinting at a male feature for “FTCU?” Is this the best song from Pink Friday 2, why or why not? Who do you think would be the perfect fit for this beat and why? Is this album still in your rotation? Does Nicki treat her fanbase the best out of any rapper? We would like to hear what you have to say about all of this. With that in mind, be sure to leave all of your hottest takes in the comments section below. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest breaking news around Nicki Minaj. Finally, stay with with us for everything else going on around the music world.

Read More: Michael Blackson Shades Katt Williams After Viral “Club Shay Shay” Interview

[Via]

The post Nicki Minaj Teases Possibile New Version Of “FTCU” With A Male Rapper appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

[WATCH] Nicki Minaj Tells Apple Music About ‘Pink Friday 2’, Working With J. Cole For The 1st Time

unnamed 18

The Queen of Gag City, Nicki Minaj, joins Ebro Darden live in-studio in New York City for an in-depth conversation discussing all things ‘Pink Friday 2.’ The no-holds-barred conversation is wide ranging with Minaj revealing when she heard the news of her father’s passing and how that influenced PF2’s first track, “Are You Gone Already.” The interview explores how Minaj ended up working with J. Cole for the first time, why her feature with Drake, “Needle,” ended up on her album instead of ‘For All The Dogs,’ whether she feels loved and appreciated by the Hip-Hop community, and much more.

Additionally, Minaj touches on how scary it was for her to get so personal on this project, her upcoming tour including international destinations, and how producer ATL Jacob was the key to unlocking the album.

The post [WATCH] Nicki Minaj Tells Apple Music About ‘Pink Friday 2’, Working With J. Cole For The 1st Time first appeared on The Source.

The post [WATCH] Nicki Minaj Tells Apple Music About ‘Pink Friday 2’, Working With J. Cole For The 1st Time appeared first on The Source.

Nicki Minaj Talks To Ebro About Drake, Her Father’s Passing, & Love From Hip Hop

It feels as if we’ve been drowning in all things Barbie lately. The Margot Robbie-led film was a global blockbuster hit, and prolonging the pink-themed celebrations is Nicki Minaj. We’re approaching exactly one month since the Queen Barb dropped her anticipated Pink Friday 2, and fans have made sure to run the rapper’s latest up the charts.

As we wade through another season of Nicki stacking one accolade after another, the Rap icon sat down with Ebro Darden for Apple Music 1. The two chatted about the evolution of Nicki’s career as a femcee legend and, of course, touched on the rapper’s fiercely guarded private life. This includes the tragic death of Minaj’s father, Robert Maraj, in 2021 after he was hit by a car. She reflected on her final conversation with him.

“I picked up [the phone], he was very happy, and he was like, ‘Baby, I could come on Monday,’ because he had been waiting to be able to come to Cali to help me. I kept on saying, ‘Come on out.’ He wasn’t really happy, but I knew that when he came to be with us, we were going to be happy.”

The “Barbie World” hitmaker also spoke on reuniting with Drake—and named which one of her Pink Friday 2 tracks was initially intended to be on For All the Dogs. Watch the candid interview above and read through a few standout soundbites from Nicki Minaj below.

On If She Feels Loved By The Hip Hop Community

Ebro: But you know you’re loved, right? You know you’re appreciated and loved. Do you know that?

Nicki Minaj: By my fans, abso-f*cking-lutely, yeah.

Ebro: But just by hip hop in general, do you think that?

Nicki Minaj: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.

Ebro: I have never met a person who has fixed their lips to say, “Nicki’s not dope.” People might be like, I don’t personally listen to her albums, but they know skill-wise. And is that for you, as someone who came up in this game and fought to have respect right next to the dudes, the only woman that’s ever been on a record with Hov and Ye and Em and F*cking Carey, right? I think that’s what has always mattered to you the most.

Nicki Minaj: Always. Always has. Always has mattered to me that, whether you knew how I look, whether you knew where I was from, whether you knew if I was a male, female, whatever, all that mattered to me was that, “Are they liking my raps?” And somewhere along the line, that shifted, and it’s everyone’s fault, as a whole, as our culture. It’s insane to go backwards. And I’m keeping it a thousand, because when I think about the people who inspired me, I can still pull from them right now. That’s why Biggie, rest in peace, he seems to always make his way on my projects. And I didn’t even realize that.

You know what I’m saying? So thank God I had those kinds of people that, right now, I can still pull inspiration from them, when I don’t have anything to pull from, whether it’s Biggie, whether it’s Jay, whether it’s Foxy, whether it’s Wayne, whether it’s Lauryn Hill, because they were so great, that I don’t care about any of Biggie Smalls’ videos or Lauryn Hill’s videos. I care about the music. When I was riding on the trains to school, I had my CD player and my headphones. I didn’t give a sh*t about what any of them looked like. And it kind of has become a little whatever.

On Drake Sending Her “Seeing Green”

I was having so much writer’s block and dealing with being a mom and losing my father and losing a couple other people that were really close to me. But when Drake sent me “Seeing Green,” even though I went down in my studio three different times, I got it done. I pushed myself to be better. I was mad at myself for being… I’m like, “Am I late? What is wrong? What’s happening?” But I know one thing, I knew I was going to send him back a mother*cking verse he was going to mother*cking love. That’s what it is, sacrifice too about, it’s your passion. The f*cking best basketball player in the world, the best boxer in the world, they sacrifice. Why? Because they want to be the best. So why is it, in music, there’s no trade anymore?

On Collaborating With Drake For All The Dogs But Adding The Track To PF2

Well, he told the fans at his tour that I was going to be able on his album. And actually, the song he was talking about was “Needle.” But he ended up feeling like sonically it didn’t match For All The Dogs. And I, from day one felt like it matched Pink Friday 2. But even before that, so long ago, I remember joking with Juice and I think my homeboys, I was like, yo, maybe, you know what? You never know. Maybe something happens and it’ll get to be on my album. And this was probably almost a year ago.

I first heard that song in Trinidad when I was in Trinidad for Carnival, so that was in February. And as soon as I heard it, I played it like Glam. We were there doing everything, so they heard it, too. Everybody loved it, and I wanted it for my album. So it was just God’s timing. He said, he asked me did I want it for my album. I was like, absolutely. So the fans were mad thinking that, but he didn’t tell them that there was a change.

And I didn’t either. But yeah, I mean, you know what? It worked out for the best. He did also send me another song, but I wanted our next song to be just Dricki, me and him. And that is what “Needle” is. And it just makes “Needle” the perfect Drake and Nicki song.

On Learning About Her Father’s Passing

My father had just passed. So, right after I had the baby, and it was during Corona, and nobody knew what was going on. So, one day, I was rocking the baby, and I don’t normally have the phone on me when I’m rocking him. Because at that time, I was mad strict, like, “Oh, that [radiation] is going to get in my child, don’t put the phone by my child.” So, normally, I wouldn’t have it.

But that day, as I’m rocking him, the phone rings, and I see it’s my father. I normally would not have picked up, because I don’t like to be on the phone with the baby there. I would’ve called him back. Something said, “Pick up the phone.” I picked up, he was very happy, and he was like, “Baby, I could come on Monday,” because he had been waiting to be able to come to Cali to help me. I kept on saying, “Come on out.” He wasn’t really happy, but I knew that when he came to be with us, we were going to be happy.

He is this amazing, great person who livens up the whole house. I was like, “Yes, we were going to get help.” We went to bed, and sometime late, while we were all asleep, the phone rang. It was my mother telling me that my father was in an accident and that she didn’t know what was going to happen, and she would call me back. And then, everything started spinning, literally, because now, also, I just had my baby. After I had my baby was the first time in my life that I ever fainted. I never knew what it felt like to faint, but I’m already hypersensitive with everything. So, to get that call, and it’s the exact replica of a call I had in about four or five dreams, but it was the exact replica of one particular dream I had about this.

[In the dream] the person was saying, “Such and such, your mom, we’re going to call you back and let you know how it went.” But this call now is with my father. And I’m like, “Wait a minute. I dreamt this.” But I remembered, in the dream, I didn’t get the call back. I didn’t remember how it ended. So, I called my pastor, and we started praying. But two nights before that, I had already texted three, four people, because it was including my mother. And I said, “Something bad is happening, and everybody needs to pray.”

But anyway, because I knew the two days before, I saw all this blood coming out of someone’s head laying on the floor, but the person was conscious. They were scared, but it was just pouring out in the hair. And I’m like thinking, “Whatever, whatever.” I sent that text to everybody like, “This is crazy.”

And then, two nights later, this happened. So, I opened the album with saying, “You never got to meet papa. He sweet proper, he keep Mama on my toes.” What else I said? “You never got to meet Papa.” So, I call my son Papa Bear. So I’m telling my father, “You never got to meet Papa.” And then, I begin to explain the time from my mother first calling me, telling me he was in an accident, to her calling me, telling me that he didn’t make it. So I’m like, “The waiting, the pacing, the raving.” And at the end, “I just believed you’d awaken, a memory in the making. Call me. Won’t you call me? Are you gone already?” Because I couldn’t believe it so fast from accident on.

A few hours earlier, he was the happiest that I had heard him in a long time. But what was interesting—why I said, “Are you gone already?” is because I knew he was gone already. Because while we were praying, the prayer changed to not like being, “Help him or duh, duh, duh.” The way the pastor just started speaking to him was like calling him back.

The post Nicki Minaj Talks To Ebro About Drake, Her Father’s Passing, & Love From Hip Hop appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Nicki Minaj Reveals She No Longer Likes to Perform “Starships” During NYE Show

Nicki Minaj's 'Pink Friday 2' Enters 14 Songs in Hot 100

Nicki Minaj brought her Queen aura to E11EVEN nightclub in Miami to ring in the New Year. During her performance, Nicki would cut “Starships,” revealing the song is no longer in her setlist. I don’t perform that song no more, y’all,” Minaj said. “I don’t like it, what y’all want me to do?”

To close 2023, Nicki Minaj found herself on a Billboard chart she never topped before: the Hot Gospel Chart. According to Billboard, Minaj’s “Blessings,” a Pink Friday 2 collaboration with gospel star Tasha Cobbs Leonard, has hit No. 1.

Billboard notes the single pulled in 3.1 million U.S. streams and 3,000 downloads, taking over both the Gospel Streaming Songs and Gospel Digital Song Sales charts.

Additionally, Nicki Minaj and her Pink Friday 2 album have flooded the Billboard hot 100. The album sits at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 as well.

Pink Friday 2 launched 14 songs into the Hot 100, with two debuting into the top 40, “Everybody” feat Lil Uzi Vert at No. 26 and “Needle” feat. Drake at No. 34.

The additional entries are below.

No. 42, “FTCU”
No. 58, “Barbie Dangerous”
No. 60, “Are You Gone Already”
No. 63, “Let Me Calm Down,” feat. J. Cole
No. 64, “Beep Beep”
No. 73, “Big Difference”
No. 74, “Fallin 4 U”
No. 80, “RNB,” feat. Lil Wayne & Tate Kobang
No. 82, “Pink Friday Girls”
No. 87, “Cowgirl,” feat. Lourdiz
No. 89, “Pink Birthday”
No. 95, “Bahm Bahm”

Pink Friday 2 has now pushed Minaj to the top of the list of female rappers with the most No. 1 albums on Billboard.

Before the release of the album, Minaj was tied with Foxy Brown for the record. Pink Friday 2 moved 228,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 14.

Additionally, the album is the biggest debut for a female HIp-Hop album in Spotify history. The album also sold 25,000 copies of vinyl.

The post Nicki Minaj Reveals She No Longer Likes to Perform “Starships” During NYE Show first appeared on The Source.

The post Nicki Minaj Reveals She No Longer Likes to Perform “Starships” During NYE Show appeared first on The Source.

A Rival Stan Posted A Video Of Themselves Hiding Nicki Minaj Albums At A Store And The Rapper Was Clearly Miffed About It

nicki minaj
Getty Image

Nicki Minaj recently released her new album, Pink Friday 2, to a warm reception, selling 228,000 album-equivalent units in its first week and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was seen as a return to form after the apparently disappointing performance of her last album, 2018’s Queen, but if you thought that the turnaround would help her (and her fans) chill out… well, there’s this bridge in Brooklyn I’ve been trying to unload. Hit me up.

The “FTCU” rapper’s latest bugaboo is a video a rival stan posted on Twitter in which they apparently hide Pink Friday 2 CDs and records at Target. The user (who seems to be a big fan of Lana Del Rey) wrote in the caption, “No physical sales for you @nickiminaj.” Now, you’d think this sort of thing would be easy to laugh off — after all, anyone looking for a copy of Pink Friday 2 could easily just thumb through the offerings on display and come up with the CD right behind the other CD (and who the hell is buying CDs anymore anyway?). But this is “Mrs. Petty” we’re talking about here.

And there is perhaps nothing more petty than a grown woman tattling. Nicki reposted the video and tagged Billboard‘s Twitter and honestly… This has to be the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. She can’t possibly think that a single Lana Del Rey stan hiding albums in one Target is throwing off her numbers — which are already pretty good — that badly that Billboard has to be alerted via the social media manager, who probably doesn’t even work in the same building with the folks who publish the charts.

Nicki’s nitpicky obsession with first-week numbers can arguably be considered the primary inspiration behind the past decade worth of stan wars on Twitter, so while you could say she’s joking — recent history suggests she really is this sensitive. If nothing else, it gives us all something to talk about on a slow holiday Friday so hey… I appreciate the entertainment, intentional or not.

Nicki Minaj Shares Video Of Hater Hiding Copies Of Her New Album

Nicki Minaj has long shown that she cares a lot about the success of her music on the charts. She once notoriously teamed up with 6ix9ine for the song “Trollz” and used digital purchases from her website to propel it all the way to the top of the Hot 100. In fact, when Billboard changed their rules about website sales and bundles impacting their charts many fans speculated that it was inspired by Nicki directly.

Now Nicki is once again paying attention to how her sales are being generated. Rather in this case, how they aren’t being generated. Seemingly a random Nicki hater took to Twitter to share a video of them hiding physical copies of her new album Pink Friday 2 behind other CDs and Vinyls in a record store. “no physical sales for you” the post’s caption reads. Nicki herself caught wind of the tweet and shared it to her audience with a quote tweet where she tagged Billboard. It’s hard to see what exactly Billboard could do about the matter, but she just wanted to bring it to their attention. Check out the tweet and accompanying video below.

Read More: What Is Nicki Minaj’s Best-Selling Album?

Nicki Minaj Shares Concerning Video

Nicki Minaj hasn’t exactly been lacking in success this month. She released her first new album in 5 years Pink Friday 2 and it’s performed quite well. In the album’s first week, it surpassed 200k total sales on its way to debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Additionally even in its second week, it didn’t slip far, dropping down to #2 behind only Taylor Swift.

The album has also performed pretty well on digital platforms. Consequently, Nicki has been no stranger about flexing the project’s Spotify success to fans online. The brags come in contrast to Nicki’s criticism of Spotify in recent weeks. What do you think of the video of a Nicki Minaj hater hiding physical copies of her albums in stores? Do you think Nicki’s retweet will have any effect on how physical sales are tracked? Let us know in the comment section below.

Read More: What Was Nicki Minaj’s Debut Single?

[Via]

The post Nicki Minaj Shares Video Of Hater Hiding Copies Of Her New Album appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

WATCH: Lil Wayne Says He is the LeBron James of Rap

Lil Wayne Says He is the LeBron James of Rap

Lil Wayne revealed which NBA player’s career most mirrors his. Speaking on Bleacher Report, Weezy F stated he is the LeBron James of rap.

“I would say that I’m like a LeBron,” Wayne revealed. “I dropped my first solo album when I was 14, and that’s the same album I’m talking about that went platinum. And Ive been doing this at this pace of higher ever since, just like him.”

Lil Wayne and Young Money Entertainment has brought Hip-Hop to some of the biggest acts and runs in history. Lil Wayne himself was on the label, Drake is one of the GOATs, and there were runs like Tyga that some artists wish they had. But if you ask Wayne himself, Nicki Minaj is the greatest Young Money artist of all time.

Speaking on Complex’s GOAT Talk series last week, Lil Wayne revealed Nicki’s status as the YM goat. “GOAT Young Money artist? Nicki Minaj,” Wayne said.

Appearing on the show with Lil Wayne was 2 Chainz, who agreed, “I would say Nicki too.”

You can hear it below.

The post WATCH: Lil Wayne Says He is the LeBron James of Rap first appeared on The Source.

The post WATCH: Lil Wayne Says He is the LeBron James of Rap appeared first on The Source.

All No. 1 Albums In 2023 On The ‘Billboard’ 200 Chart

sza
Getty Image

2023 has been an incredible year, with a ton of new music to soundtrack our favorite moments. Many different artists had their albums reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the genres ranging from rap to country — and even some K-pop icons sprinkled in.

Here’s what to know about the albums that reached the top in 2023.

All No. 1 Albums In 2023 On The Billboard Hot 100 Chart

Earlier this year, 2023 kicked off with SZA’s SOS album reigning on the 200 albums chart. Her record spent eight weeks there throughout the year, giving her second place as the artist with the most.

Morgan Wallen’s One Thing At A Time was the album to spend the most weeks at No. 1 this year, with 16 in total spread across the year.

Another interesting part is that Taylor Swift had three different albums hit the top of the chart this year — Midnights, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and 1989 (Taylor’s Version).

Now, 2023 has closed with Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 as this year’s final No. 1 record.

Continue scrolling to see the complete list of all the albums that reached No. 1 in 2023.

SZA — SOS
Tomorrow x Together — The Name Chapter: Temptation
Karol G — Mañana Será Bonito
Morgan Wallen — One Thing At A Time
Taylor Swift — Midnights
Stray Kids — 5-Star
Lil Uzi Vert — Pink Tape
Taylor Swift — Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
NewJeans — Get Up
Travis Scott — Utopia
Zach Bryan — Zach Bryan
Olivia Rodrigo — Guts
Rod Wave — Nostalgia
Drake — For All The Dogs
Bad Bunny — Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana
Blink-182 — One More Time…
Taylor Swift — 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
Stray Kids — Rock-Star
Ateez — The World EP.Fin: Will
Nicki Minaj — Pink Friday 2

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.