Photo Credit: Nicki Minaj/Instagram

Nicki Minaj declared herself the Queen of Rap on her new single Yikes, her first solo effort since last summer and most importantly since announcing retirement in September. Several shots were taken at ex Meek Mill without explicitly calling him by name. “Yikes, I play tag and you it for life/ Yikes, you a clown, you do it for likes,” she spits. This came after the two had a 2 hour back and forth on Twitter seemingly out of the blue where she accused him of abuse and he asked why does the industry allow certain people (obviously Nicki) continue their career knowing how horrible of a person they are to everyone. He also said she knew that her brother was raping his niece, that she knew about it, let him do it and that that was ultimately why he left her. ‘

And as for her alleged bullying, Meek had to be held back by his Security last month while she was in a store calling him a b*tch and her husband Kenneth Petty calling him a p*ssy. Sheesh. She seems to have used the incident for inspiration in her lyrics rapping, “Soon as n-ggas press you, boy, you throw up peace signs/ You don’t want that action, pull your cards, you decline.” She made headlines for a Rosa Parks line where she said, “All you bitches Rosa Parks, uh-oh, get your ass up, uh.” It might have not been so bad if it didn’t occur during Black History Month and Rosa Parks’ birthday, but hey… what’s a little controversy to Nicki Minaj? Parks’ nephew William McCauley said “It was both heart breaking and disrespectful that Nicki Minaj would have a lyric in a song that can be used negatively when mentioning someone who provided her the freedoms that she has today.” The Executive Director of the Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, Anita Peek weighed in as well saying, “If Rosa were alive today, she’d be extremely hurt by Minaj taking her bus protest — one of the most significant moments of the Civil Rights Movement — and putting a negative spin on it for a song.” Then there’s the TMZ headline that said she stated the lyric came out with bad timing, where she replied saying, “Never said this. Had no clue anyone was mad. Don’t care.”

Speaking of controversy, Minaj did an interview with manager Irving Azoff during Pollstar Live 2020 conference where she talked about the state of her career, social media feuds, etc. First, she defended the former Grammy CEO Deborah Dugan in her fight against the Academy saying, “We need strong women that are willing to say what they have to say, even when they’re getting backlash for it. And every strong woman in here knows exactly what I’m talking about.” As for social media, she was asked if she had been on Twitter lately, to which she responded, “I was hacked! I got hacked this morning, you guys,” Minaj jokes. “Don’t believe anything you saw… the good old ‘hacked’ excuse.” Irving questions, “Now, is that shit premeditated or does it just happen?” “It just happens,” she says. “And listen, it never fails. Every time I do it, five minutes later, I’m like, ‘Why the fuck do I do that?’ You know what I mean? Every single time! But it’s a good lesson in knowing how to master your anger and emotions. So, every time I do that, I give myself a talking to in my head. Like… ‘Okay, you played yourself. You shouldn’t have did that. You learned your lesson again. Now, you kinda gotta learn that lesson!’ So, I gave myself that talk today, sir!”

Minaj’ openness and extreme willingness to be honest is what has fans and listeners both love and well, not love her quite as much, to put it nicely. But keep in mind, when she was given a radio show on Apple’s Beats One network, you’re essentially giving a person free reign to say what they want so you get what you get. She’s had plenty of industry experience and to be honest, it’s refreshing to hear someone tell things how it is. But sometimes she does overstep herself as she said she regretted her retirement announcement. “Another time where I shouldn’t have had social media on my phone,” she says. “That’s why for the last three months I haven’t had social media on my phone. I just recently put it back on my phone and I’m about to take it back off… I don’t know how many of you guys have done this. But do you notice that when you take social media off your phone, you as a person feels happier? Or more at peace? You guys really should try it. I promise you. Because it’s too much of nonsense and nothingness, and looking at what everyone else is doing and comparing yourself to other people… when you’re having a great life. You are having a great freakin’ life! People didn’t wake up this morning. We’re good! And then we go on social media and make ourselves depressed.”

But this new track might have been a return to solo music for Minaj, she still was doing other tracks in the meantime. She appeared on a number of features in her downtime, but it looks like we’ve got ol’ Nicki here to stay. Listen to the track below and tell us what you think.