Nicki Minaj has once again denounced her hit single “Starships” and vowed to no longer perform the song.
On Sunday (December 31), the Queens native was hired to perform at a New Year’s Eve party at E11EVEN in Miami. At one point in the night, her DJ began playing the 2012 song, but after unenthusiastically rapping a few lines, the Pink Friday 2 rapper stopped the song all together.
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“Sike, sike, sike,” she said to the disappointed crowd. “I don’t perform that song no more, y’all! I don’t like it! What y’all want me to do?”
You can watch the clip below:
This isn’t the first time Nicki Minaj has spoken out about the hit song. In a 2020 Q&A panel appearance with Pollstar Live, Minaj questioned why she ever made “Starships” while also saying she wished she never recorded her 2014 hit single, “Anaconda.”
“So much of my discography,” she said when asked which of her songs she regrets. “I wish I never recorded ‘Anaconda.’ I like the video but, ugh. My first ever solo song on Billboard was ‘Your Love.’ To this day I like the video but I hate the song. I could go on and on. I hate ‘Starships,’ I mean ew, ‘Starships?’ I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?’ I really think that every time I hear it.”
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The 9x platinum “Starships” peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a huge hit for Nicki Minaj ± but it became a huge point of contention between her and Hot 97 personality Peter Rosenberg months after its release.
While addressing the crowd at 2012 Summer Jam, the radio host called the track “one of the most sellout songs in Hip Hop history,” which led to Minaj canceling her scheduled performance at the annual festival that day.
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The pair went on to have beef for some time after that, but eventually patched things up a year later when Minaj visited Hot 97 once again.
In more recent news, Nicki Minaj made history on the Billboard Hot 100 following the release of her new album Pink Friday 2.
According to Chart Data, Nicki’s latest project has become the female rap album with the highest number of songs to appear on the Hot 100, with 17 of its 22 tracks landing on the chart.
The historic milestone comes shortly after Nicki Minaj broke a separate record on the Billboard 200. Thanks to Pink Friday 2 topping the chart with 228,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, Nicki now has the most No. 1 albums of any female rapper with three.
She was previously tied with Foxy Brown, who topped the Billboard 200 twice in the 1990s with her solo album Chyna Doll and The Firm: The Album, a collaboration with Nas, AZ, and Nature.
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Released on December 8 — Minaj’s 41st birthday — Pink Friday 2 serves as the long-awaited sequel to her 2010 debut album and her first album since 2018’s Queen.
