Nicki Minaj Talks To Ebro About Drake, Her Father's Passing, & Love From Hip Hop

It feels as if we've been drowning in all things Barbie lately. The Margot Robbie-led film was a global blockbuster hit, and prolonging the pink-themed celebrations is Nicki Minaj. We're approaching exactly one month since the Queen Barb dropped her anticipated Pink Friday 2, and fans have made sure to run the rapper's latest up the charts.

As we wade through another season of Nicki stacking one accolade after another, the Rap icon sat down with Ebro Darden for Apple Music 1. The two chatted about the evolution of Nicki's career as a femcee legend and, of course, touched on the rapper's fiercely guarded private life. This includes the tragic death of Minaj's father, Robert Maraj, in 2021 after he was hit by a car. She reflected on her final conversation with him.

"I picked up [the phone], he was very happy, and he was like, 'Baby, I could come on Monday,' because he had been waiting to be able to come to Cali to help me. I kept on saying, 'Come on out.' He wasn't really happy, but I knew that when he came to be with us, we were going to be happy."

The "Barbie World" hitmaker also spoke on reuniting with Drake—and named which one of her Pink Friday 2 tracks was initially intended to be on For All the Dogs. Watch the candid interview above and read through a few standout soundbites from Nicki Minaj below.

Ebro: But you know you're loved, right? You know you're appreciated and loved. Do you know that?

Nicki Minaj: By my fans, abso-f*cking-lutely, yeah.

Ebro: But just by hip hop in general, do you think that?

Nicki Minaj: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Ebro: I have never met a person who has fixed their lips to say, "Nicki's not dope." People might be like, I don't personally listen to her albums, but they know skill-wise. And is that for you, as someone who came up in this game and fought to have respect right next to the dudes, the only woman that's ever been on a record with Hov and Ye and Em and F*cking Carey, right? I think that's what has always mattered to you the most.

Nicki Minaj: Always. Always has. Always has mattered to me that, whether you knew how I look, whether you knew where I was from, whether you knew if I was a male, female, whatever, all that mattered to me was that, "Are they liking my raps?" And somewhere along the line, that shifted, and it's everyone's fault, as a whole, as our culture. It's insane to go backwards. And I'm keeping it a thousand, because when I think about the people who inspired me, I can still pull from them right now. That's why Biggie, rest in peace, he seems to always make his way on my projects. And I didn't even realize that.

You know what I'm saying? So thank God I had those kinds of people that, right now, I can still pull inspiration from them, when I don't have anything to pull from, whether it's Biggie, whether it's Jay, whether it's Foxy, whether it's Wayne, whether it's Lauryn Hill, because they were so great, that I don't care about any of Biggie Smalls' videos or Lauryn Hill's videos. I care about the music. When I was riding on the trains to school, I had my CD player and my headphones. I didn't give a sh*t about what any of them looked like. And it kind of has become a little whatever.

I was having so much writer's block and dealing with being a mom and losing my father and losing a couple other people that were really close to me. But when Drake sent me "Seeing Green," even though I went down in my studio three different times, I got it done. I pushed myself to be better. I was mad at myself for being... I'm like, "Am I late? What is wrong? What's happening?" But I know one thing, I knew I was going to send him back a mother*cking verse he was going to mother*cking love. That's what it is, sacrifice too about, it's your passion. The f*cking best basketball player in the world, the best boxer in the world, they sacrifice. Why? Because they want to be the best. So why is it, in music, there's no trade anymore?

Well, he told the fans at his tour that I was going to be able 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. But even before that, so long ago, I remember joking with Juice and I think my homeboys, I was like, yo, maybe, you know what? You never know. Maybe something happens and it'll get to be 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. And as soon as I heard it, I played it like Glam. We were there doing everything, so they heard it, too. Everybody loved it, and I wanted it for my album. So it was just God's timing. He said, he 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 that there was a change.

And I didn't either. 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 “Needle” the perfect Drake and Nicki song.

My father had just passed. So, right after I had the baby, and it was during Corona, and nobody knew what was going on. So, one day, I was rocking the baby, and I don't normally have the phone on me when I'm rocking him. Because at that time, I was mad strict, like, "Oh, that [radiation] is going to get in my child, don't put the phone by my child." So, normally, I wouldn't have it.

But that day, as I'm rocking him, the phone rings, and I see it's my father. I normally would not have picked up, because I don't like to be on the phone with the baby there. I would've called him back. Something said, "Pick up the phone." I picked up, he was very happy, and he was like, "Baby, I could come on Monday," because he had been waiting to be able to come to Cali to help me. I kept on saying, "Come on out." He wasn't really happy, but I knew that when he came to be with us, we were going to be happy.

He is this amazing, great person who livens up the whole house. I was like, "Yes, we were going to get help." We went to bed, and sometime late, while we were all asleep, the phone rang. It was my mother telling me that my father was in an accident and that she didn't know what was going to happen, and she would call me back. And then, everything started spinning, literally, because now, also, I just had my baby. After I had my baby was the first time in my life that I ever fainted. I never knew what it felt like to faint, but I'm already hypersensitive with everything. So, to get that call, and it's the exact replica of a call I had in about four or five dreams, but it was the exact replica of one particular dream I had about this.

[In the dream] the person was saying, "Such and such, your mom, we're going to call you back and let you know how it went." But this call now is with my father. And I'm like, "Wait a minute. I dreamt this." But I remembered, in the dream, I didn't get the call back. I didn't remember how it ended. So, I called my pastor, and we started praying. But two nights before that, I had already texted three, four people, because it was including my mother. And I said, "Something bad is happening, and everybody needs to pray.”

But anyway, because I knew the two days before, I saw all this blood coming out of someone's head laying on the floor, but the person was conscious. They were scared, but it was just pouring out in the hair. And I'm like thinking, "Whatever, whatever." I sent that text to everybody like, "This is crazy.”

And then, two nights later, this happened. So, I opened the album with saying, "You never got to meet papa. He sweet proper, he keep Mama on my toes." What else I said? "You never got to meet Papa." So, I call my son Papa Bear. So I'm telling my father, "You never got to meet Papa." And then, I begin to explain the time from my mother first calling me, telling me he was in an accident, to her calling me, telling me that he didn't make it. So I'm like, "The waiting, the pacing, the raving." And at the end, "I just believed you'd awaken, a memory in the making. Call me. Won't you call me? Are you gone already?" Because I couldn't believe it so fast from accident on.

A few hours earlier, he was the happiest that I had heard him in a long time. But what was interesting—why I said, "Are you gone already?" is because I knew he was gone already. Because while we were praying, the prayer changed to not like being, "Help him or duh, duh, duh." The way the pastor just started speaking to him was like calling him back.