Nicki Minaj gotten candid in her recent interview with Ebro where she discussed many things and her thought process behind Pink Friday 2. The album had dropped December 8th, 2023 which too was her birthday.
Speaking in particular of her album, she dedicated her song, “Are You Gone Already” to her father, where she rapped about her son Papa Bear never meeting his grandpa in person.
“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 is going to get in my child, don’t put the phone by my child.” So, normally, I wouldn’t have it.” she details.
She continued, “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.”
“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,” she recalled.
During the interview, she got to share the excitement of the energy between her and J Cole and how he really liked the “FTCU” song and of their song “Let Me Calm Down.”
“After I played him that song [Let Me Calm Down], I played him ‘FTCU.’ I was like, ‘Yo, I don’t like playing my music, but I’ll let you hear another song.’ So I played him that. And when that second verse came in, his reaction is why that song is so high. Because Drake had originally loved that song. While he was working on his album, he was thinking about if that could fit for his album as well. Because I sent it to him when I did it, because I loved the beat. But I wasn’t sure about the chorus.”
Separately on X she praised Cole for his “therapeutic” session with her and how empowering he is. “This man J. Cole had a 2 hour talk with me. 2. Two!!!! Didn’t realize I was sitting on a therapist couch but ummm 2 days later I heard this verse & couldn’t stop crying. The end.”
“In a world where we know EXACTLY how & WHEN to tear each other apart, there are still Kings & Queens who know how to put ppl back together. Patch them up. Heal them. Empower them. Understand them. Listen to them. Make them do the most beautiful thing a human being can do. Smile.”
When it came to Drake and Nicki’s collaboration, things were a little bit tricky but happened to work in favor of both. she detailed how the song “Needle” Drake had set out for her to feature on his album, For All The Dogs was set to appear on the album, but he agreed that it didn’t fit the theme of his.
“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.”
She continued, “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.” Nicki says. “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.
