Nicki Minaj Reveals There Was Almost a Drake Collaboration on Her New Album 'Queen'
Ariana Grande, Eminem and Lil Wayne are all featured on Nicki Minaj’s new album, Queen, but there was one collaboration that didn’t make the cut.
During her appearance on The Whoollywood Shuffle on Eminem's exclusive SiriusXM channel, Shade 45, on Friday, Minaj revealed that she had a song with Drake that was just hours away from making the album.
“Drake and I were working on something, but I didn't want to change the date of the album,” she shared. “So about two days before I had to turn it in, he and I had been going back and forth. And then even up until -- I would say, within 12 hours of having to turn in my album, we were going back and forth.”
“He had come to my studio, we found something that we really, really loved. But he was also going through that process of getting stuff right for his tour, and I had to understand that,” Minaj added of Drake’s Aubrey and the Three Migos tour. “As an artist, I always try to put myself in the artist's shoes, and not try to be selfish.”
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The “Bed” rapper said that while she loves collaborating with big names on her music, at the end of the day, it’s her own material that has to be strong enough on its own.
“I stand on my own two feet. I always keep on reminding myself, 'Onika, when you were putting out your mixtapes, you ain't have no big name people to put on there,'” she explained. “Wayne came after, and then even with Wayne, Wayne would come in with a verse, and that was that. And that was the icing on the cake.”
“It was me grinding, and if I have to do that again, so f**king be it,” she added. “Nobody's going to make or break me. I'm going to do me.”
Minaj has been making the rounds lately promoting Queen and made quite an impact during her appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.