The pair’s collaboration “Needle” was initially supposed to appear on Drake’s album ‘For All the Dogs.’
Nicki Minaj got her wish.
In a new episode of Ebro’s Apple Music 1 show, the Pink Friday 2 rapper further opened up about the decision to include the Drake-featuring song “Needle” on her new album rather than on For All the Dogs.
“He told the fans at his tour that I was going to 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,” she explained to Ebro.
“But even before that, so long ago, I remember joking with…my homeboys, I was like, ‘Yo, maybe, you know what? You never know. Maybe something happens and it’ll get on my album.’ And this was probably almost a year ago.
“I first heard that song in Trinidad when I was in Trinidad for Carnival, so that was in February,” she continued. “Everybody loved it and I wanted it for my album. So it was just God’s timing. [Drake] 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 there was a change.
“And I didn’t either,” she added. “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 sense; ‘Needle’ is just the perfect Drake and Nicki song.”
Back in September, before For All the Dogs‘ arrival, Onika started demanding that Drizzy drop the album because she was set to appear on it. At the time, she was also gearing up for the release of Pink Friday 2.
“Drake, I’m not going to tell you one more time. The Barbz want the album! He can be Champagne Papi… I don’t care, papi, the Barbz want the motherfucking album,” she said during an Instagram Live session.
But when For All the Dogs dropped in October, there was no feature from Nicki. Later, when PF2 came along in December, Drake was on her album instead. “#PinkFriday2 wouldn’t have felt complete w/o him,” she wrote on X.
She once again addressed the inclusion of the song in a livestream on X: “It was originally supposed to be on his album,” Minaj said. “And it’s crazy how I always wanted it for my album.”
Head over to Apple Music to listen to the episode with Nicki Minaj in full at 4pm ET on Thursday, January 4.
