S. Samuel
Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj has revealed that her initial request for Eminem to appear on a record from the upcoming Pink Friday debut album was met with rejection.
According to Minaj, Em’s rejection motivated her to reach back out and finally snag him for another track on the album called “Roman’s Revenge.”
The track had long been in the works, she revealed. Swizz Beatz produced the number, and she held onto the track for months. The Queens femcee sent Eminem another record first in hopes of soliciting a collaboration with the Detroit superstar. “We went out on a whim and put it in the air like, ‘It’d be great if he would collaborate with us,’ ” Nicki Minaj said. “I remember I kept talking about it, and I thought, ‘It can’t hurt.’ I sent him one record, and he didn’t love it. He didn’t say, ‘I don’t love it’; he just said, ‘Can you send me something that’s a little more me?’ I sent him an e-mail and thanked him for that, just having enough respect. Sometimes people don’t respond. He had the respect, at least, to treat me like a peer.” Eventually, Nicki revisited the Swizz track and completed the song. She wasn’t sure if she wanted a feature on the track, because she thought the song was so good as it stood. After thinking it over, however, she decided to reach out to Em. “He picked up the phone for that one,” she said. (MTV)
Details on their collaboration hit the Internet Thursday (October 28).
Roman Zolanski is about to meet Slim Shady. The alter-egos of rap’s most formidable forces will go head-to-head on a track for Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday. Rap-Up.com has exclusively learned that Young Money’s First Lady and Eminem have recorded a song called “Roman’s Revenge,” which will be included on Nicki’s debut album, due November 22. Fans can expect more heavy-hitters on the highly-anticipated project, in addition to Em, who trades bars with Nicki’s colorful alter-ego Roman. During a Ustream session earlier this week, she revealed that Drake would also make an appearance on the album, calling their collaboration one of her favorites. (Rap-Up)
Young Money CEO Mack Maine recently revealed that Minaj was anxious over her debut sales.
“She was worrying about first week. She was like, ‘Drake sold [463,000]. What you think I’ma sell? As if she gon’ sell less,” recalls Maine. “I explained to her, ‘You know a lot of the press and the media really got it brainwashed with first week sales.’ Bieber went on to sell 2 million and Bieber might have only sold 17,000 the first week. Juvenile sold like 30,000 his first week of 400 Degreez and went on to sell 6 million…I don’t know what happened to working the record and making sure that the artistreaches a certain point. I rather the end number be higher than the beginning. These days, it’s all about: Let me do 500,000, a million the first week. Don’t get caught up in what Wayne did. You don’t want your pinnacle to be your first-week sales. Then everything’s downhill from there and then what? I don’t care if you sell 10 the first week and you go on to sell 5 million–we did better than the person that sold 300 the first week.” (VIBE)
Recently, Kanye West crowned Eminem and Nicki Minaj as two of the best emcees in hip-hop.
“This is gonna be such a big statement, and such a big thing to fill: The scariest artist right now is definitely Nicki Minaj. I think she has the most potential to be the number-two rapper of all time. Nobody’s gonna be bigger than Eminem.” (Hot 97)
Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday is scheduled to be released Monday, November 22nd.
Check out a recent Nicki Minaj interview down below:
