Funkmaster Flex has been vocally critical of Nicki Minaj in the past, and it's caused some major tension between the two. Following the release of "Chun-Li," which Flex showed his support for on-air, Flex and Nicki have gradually warmed to each other, and it's led to the two working out their differences on his Hot 97 show.
Before getting to any other subjects, Minaj and Flex got to the bottom of Flex's issues. "I had no clue what you was mad at," said Nicki. "I was being opinionated, Did you feel like I was attacking you?" he responded. "Of course," said Minaj, suggesting the digs came off as personal. "It felt like more than about my music."
Flex went on to explain his perspective. "I've always been a fan of your music," he said. "I felt there was a couple songs that got super commercial. While I was watching you go back and forth with your music... the one with Drake and Wayne... I couldn't pinpoint it at the time, maybe I felt you didn't have it. But now when I hear stuff like "Dreams," and I hear the music now... I may have felt you were getting a little lazy with the music [before]... "Chun-Li" changed me around, you know, I liked that song. My opinion is not the end-all-be-all."
Later, Nicki said that she's receptive to criticism as long as its fair. "Whenever people give me constructive criticism, like if someone tells me 'you could have went harder on that.' I accept things," she said. "I have an issue when the criticism seems like it's personal or from a bad place"
Flex admitted that he went into "Chun-Li" wanting to bash it, but couldn't deny it in the end. "I wanted to front on "Chun-Li"... When I first heard it, I was like 'shit aight'... By the time I got to the end of the highway I was like 'nah this shit kinda knockin'.' By the time I got on the air, I was excited about it," he said. "I was happy that you liked it," Nicki responded.
Minaj went on to say that she felt Flex wasn't the only person who was being hard on her, but it's something that comes with her position in rap. She recalled a conversation with Jay-Z that gave her some advice to deal with expectations. "Jay said, 'they're always going to hold you to a higher standard,' she remembered. "I said, 'But why?, it's not fair.' And he said, 'It's not you, it's your spot.'"
Watch the full 80-minute interview, which also touches on her friendship with Drake, her past relationships, and her new album, Queen, above.