Nicki Minaj bidding adieu?
Rapper announces retirement, then apologizes for tweet
Just hours after seeming to announce her retirement on Twitter, rapper Nicki Minaj apologized to her fans for her “abrupt” and “insensitive” tweet.
“I’m still right here. Still madly in love with you guys & you know that,” she tweeted to a fan. “In hindsight, this should’ve been a Queen Radio discussion & it will be. I promise u guys will be happy. No guests, just us talking about everything. The tweet was abrupt & insensitive, I apologize babe.”
On Thursday, she had tweeted: “I’ve decided to retire,” and “have my family.”
So for now it remains unclear what her actual plans are.
Many had interpreted the Thursday tweet as Minaj — who revealed in June that she and partner Kenneth Petty have a marriage licence — declaring she is officially leaving rap to start a family. Some fans noted she’d changed her Twitter name from Ms. Minaj to Mrs. Petty over the summer. Others were more skeptical of the news.
“Rappers rarely retire, they just say they’re retiring for attention and then drop a comeback album,” Luke James tweeted.
Minaj has been busy recently: After releasing the single Megatron in June, she said she was working on her fifth studio album.
“There’s definitely a new album, yes, of course,” she told talk-show host Jimmy Fallon that month, but said she didn’t know when it would be ready. “I’m not putting out the date yet, but there is one.”
Minaj also appears on Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer — the accompanying music video was just released Tuesday.
The rapper has publicly mused before about whether it’s time for her to quit music, such as in 2012 when she deleted her Twitter account after a song leaked.
“People aren’t even giving the kid (Minaj) props for taking it back to the essence,” she said on BBC Radio 1. “This is my fourth mix tape, really. The kid did like that so she could feed her fans. But really, now the kid is thinking maybe she should leave the game.”
Minaj has long been vocal about the ways she feels she’s been given short shrift in her career. On Twitter and Queen Radio, her Beats 1 station, she has been critical of Travis Scott, Spotify, journalists, Joe Budden, Miley Cyrus and Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich.
In 2015, she had no issue calling out the MTV Video Music Awards for not nominating Anaconda for video of the year. (Minaj was nominated in three other categories.)
“If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well,” she tweeted.
“When the ‘other’ girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination.”
And while some fans are lamenting Minaj’s apparent departure, it’s not uncommon for musicians to announce they’re putting down the microphone only to change their minds years later. Artists including Barbra Streisand, Cher and Garth Brooks have done it. Jay-Z said 2003’s The Black Album would be his last. Three years later, he put out Kingdom Come and admitted his “was the worst retirement, maybe, in history.” He has released four other albums since.
Some longtime stars — Elton John and Paul Simon among them — go a different route and promote farewell tours. Those also happen to be surefire money-makers and inspire healthy skepticism.
Maybe Minaj, who has been making music for more than a decade, just needs a chance to rest. The Washington Post