The latest iteration of Saturday Night Live marked the show's Season 43 finale and marked the return of actress and writer Tina Fey to Studio 8H as Nicki Minaj returned to grace the stage for a third time as the sketch show’s musical guest.
Prior to her appearance on the show, Nicki assured fans that although she would no longer be on the bill for the Billboard Music Awards because she was missing her rehearsal slot the day before the ceremonies, her performance on SNL would be “very worth it.”
“I’ll perform a song you never heard b4,” she added. “My fave on the album. plus my second song. You can prob guess what that’s gonna be.”
She would soon walk back that promise of a new song, but nonetheless maintained that she would still deliver on a venerable performance. As promised, Nicki delivered two tracks with the first, of course, being a live rendition of her “Chun-Li” single as she let loose on a traditionally eastern set in ode to the Chinese origins of the Street Fighter character Chun-Li from which the track found inspiration.
Her second appearance onstage though featured a special surprise guest in Playboi Carti as the duo let it rip on Carti’s “Poke It Out” track to be found on his latest Die Lit album. Toward the end of their rendition though, Nicki hilariously raps "Don't be all up on me like that," to the beat in response to Playboi's routinely rambunctious energy onstage before instructing the 21-year old to "stand right there" as she gives him a dance onstage.
Catch the full performances down below.