Nicki Minaj followed the release of new single “Last Time I Saw You” with an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1‘s New Music Daily radio show on Friday.
The rapper discussed growing both as an artist and “human being,” a new song on Drake’s upcoming album, and reflecting on loss and life.
“I just wanted the next song that I put out to represent my growth,” she told Lowe. “Not just as an artist, but as a human being. I’ve experienced so many things that I hadn’t experienced five years ago, and that’s just the truth.”
“Last Time I Saw You” offers the first glimpse into her Pink Friday sequel, and follows last year’s massive Number One hit “Super Freaky Girl,” which samples Rick James’ 1981 hit “Super Freak,” and “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” in March.
When describing the new song, Minaj said that the “vibe of it was really talking about a loss,” adding, “When I wrote the singing verse, I tried to expand it and think even about relationships. And then by the time I got to the rap, it was like I had included all relationships that I had lost before, because I mentioned even best friends and stuff like that.”
She also opened up about the birth of her child and the death of her father Robert Maraj, who was killed in a hit and run on Feb. 2021. “I haven’t spoken to anybody about this particular part outside of super really close friends, I guess,” said Minaj. “But I had just had my first child. The last thing I thought I was going to have to do when I just gave birth to my first child was to start preparing for my father’s funeral. If there were a billion quadrillion things that I could have thought would’ve been happening in my life, if somebody gave me a billion options to choose, that would not have been the option that I thought I would’ve been experiencing.”
Minaj said that motherhood has helped her “[crack] the code to something that gives a person peace no matter what’s going on around them,” and said “I am not perfect. I didn’t get the master’s degree in it yet, but I think becoming a mom… Well, becoming a mom definitely gives you more patience with people because you realize that people are owed that grace.”
When hinting at her upcoming collaboration on Drake’s new album, Minaj teased, “I know the world’s going to love the song, and that’s all I will say about that,” before quipping, “But, no, Zane, Barbz, make sure y’all let Drizzy Drake know that Pink Friday 2 is coming out November 17th as well. And we are waiting on his contribution.”
While the rap superstar holds one of hip-hop’s most impressive portfolios with over 100 million records sold and has been a part of 132 songs that hit the Billboard Top 100 — including three number ones — Minaj is still intent on challenging the status quo.
“I feel like as a leader in anything, you have to be willing to take those kind of risks that you know that you’re not guaranteed to win at, but it’s going to shift the motherfucking culture,” she said. “Because if you ain’t going to do it, who will?”
From Rolling Stone US
