Nicki Minaj has given fans a much-needed update on her forthcoming fifth studio album, which she’s been teasing for a while.
Speaking to City Girls rapper JT for i-D, the leader of the Barbz revealed her next album will go back to her Hip Hop roots. According to Nicki, she’s in a very good place now and believes being in that mindset puts her in a position to put out her best music.
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“I feel like whenever I’m happy, I deliver the best music,” Nicki said before hinting at what’s to come on the new project. “And in order for me to deliver the best music for my album – which is coming out soon – I have to tap back into the essence of Hip Hop.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Nicki hinted her fifth studio album is on her priority list, giving fans hope it can be released sometime soon. Her last solo effort came with 2018’s Queen, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 185,000 album-equivalent units, of which 78,000 came from pure album sales.
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While she’s aiming to bring the essence of Hip Hop back into her music, Nicki wants to see her younger counterparts bar up with their rhymes in the same interview with JT and i-D. According to Nicki, she released the “Queen Mix” to her hit single “Super Freaky Girl” — featuring Katie Got Bandz, Maliibu Miitch, BIA and Akbar V. — just to hear women rap.
“I wanna hear girls rap again. Like, just rap. When I did my BET Cypher years ago, I purposely didn’t wear revealing clothes,” Nicki said. “I wore a sweatsuit. So even though we were being super freaky girls on the song, and we all had fun, y’all really spit.”
Elsewhere, Nicki praised fellow rap legend Foxy Brown during her i-D interview and called her one of her biggest rap inspirations. The “Moment 4 Life” star was asked to name the artists who have had a major impact on her rap style the most, and Foxy led the way.
“Foxy Brown. I still probably at times sound similar to her,” Nicki said. “I would listen to this woman non-stop. Finding out she was from Trinidad was so freaking amazing to me, because I never imagined that a rapper could be from my country.
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She added: “She’s so precise with her delivery, and so clear. And I really love clarity in raps.”
