She also discussed Cardi B, Drake, and Meek Mill in a new interview with Zane Lowe
Earlier this week, Nicki Minaj announced two new singles. Last night, the rapper dropped the songs, titled “Barbie Tingz” and “Chun-Li”, as well as a preview of the former track’s music video. She also discussed the songs with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 in an interview that also touched on ex-boyfriend Meek Mill’s prison sentence, Drake, Cardi B and more.
Speaking to Lowe, Minaj described the new album she’s working on as “the best album in my life that I’ve ever created.” She began working on the record in earnest in December last year, though some of its tracks were written over a year ago.
Lowe also asked Minaj about a leaked track with lyrics that were interpreted as a diss towards Cardi, though she denied that this was the case and said it was written over a year ago. However, she did say that she was hurt by the fallout to “Motorsport”, her collaboration with Migos and Cardi B.
“When I first came in the game, if a female of (my) stature had done a feature with me on it, I would only be singing their praises and saying thank you. The first interview (that Cardi B) did after ‘MotorSport’ came out, it just really hurt me, because she looked so aggravated and angry, and the only thing she kept saying was, ‘I didn’t hear that, she changed her verse.’”
Minaj did not appear in the “Motorsport” video, fuelling rumours of a fall out, but she explained that it was just down to a scheduling conflict – though the others did not “clear the air” about it and “allowed me to look like I lied”.
Elsewhere in the interview she discussed the legal situation of her ex-boyfriend, Meek Mill, prefacing that she didn’t want to “talk about legal things”, but that she “wouldn’t wish jail on anybody”. She added: “What made me shed tears the other day was seeing his mother cry... During the relationship (she) was always so sweet to me.”
She also said that the tepid Meek Mill/Drake beef from 2015/16 was difficult for her given her relationship with both artists. “At the time, I did love both of them,” she said. “I felt so imprisoned in that moment.” She also said that Drake was concerned that Minaj might take a shot at him in her lyrics, and that she tried to discourage Meek from taking part in the beef.
Listen to the new tracks above and the interview below, and revisit our cover story with Nicki Minaj discussing her new music.