Nicki Minaj is a legend in the game, though for whatever reason, it can sometimes feel like she doesn't always get the credit she deserves. Yet one rapper who has always held it down for Minaj is Russ, who has frequently stressed the importance of celebrating her legacy while she's still around to see it.
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"I understand you might not like certain things they’re saying, but you can’t just dismiss a whole career," he previously stated, speaking on the Rap Radar podcast in December of 2019. "You can’t dismiss the fact that Nicki was the biggest female rapper for a whole fucking decade straight. Y'all can’t even last a fucking summertime. This girl was the biggest, most successful female rapper for 10 years. You know how hard that is? Motherfuckers struggle to last two months."
Now, the Diemon has returned with a reminder of how dominant Minaj's reign truly was, offering up an alternative timeline in order to emphasize his argument. "Imagine if TikTok was out during Nicki Minaj blowin up era...numbers woulda been astronomical lmao," he reflects. "did it on em, only, anaconda, twerk it, FEELING MYSELF Man, soooo many like bruh lmao shit was already outta here but that woulda been insane lol."
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A fair point, and it's unlikely that many would argue his claim with much conviction. Though Minaj hardly needed TikTok to dominate the charts -- she currently holds thirty-eight gold and platinum songs, with many having gone multi-plat -- it does make you wonder how much of a boost she might have received under different circumstances. Check out Russ' co-sign of the legendary rapper below.