Nicki Minaj rewrote the lyrics to a whole song on her new album Queen after JAY-Z suggested the track could be better.
The rap mogul caught an early listen of LLC and told Nicki he was very impressed with her third verse on the album tune.
"When JAY-Z came to the studio and I played this song, he heard the entire song and said I went hard on the third verse," she recalled during her debut Beats 1 radio show on Thursday night (09Aug18). "I'm such a perfectionist. Because he said third and not whole record, I rewrote the whole f**king song!
"Shout out to JAY - he’s always been one of my hugest inspirations. He’s inspired me so much. True story, I changed my whole song because he only said 'third verse'. It’s important to me when the greats hear it, that time was spent."
And it appears JAY-Z's comments were on point - LLC is now one of the best tracks Nicki thinks she has ever recorded:
"(It's) one of my favourites on the album - for skill, breath control, precision, wittiness and raising the bar...," she explained.
Nicki also made changes to the new track I Thought I Knew You, explaining she dumped a fellow rapper from the song.
"Once I took the rapper off the song, I loved it even more; it felt like more of an easy listen," she said.
Nicki also broke down why she made fun of her rap peers Drake, DJ Khaled, Young Thug and ex-boyfriend Meek Mill on her track Barbie Dreams, insisting the song was just a lighthearted tune meant to draw laughs.
“You guys know Barbie Dreams is not a diss, right? It’s just some funny s**t," she shared. "I love them. I said things about people who I know can take a joke and won’t be emotional about it."
“Reading the reactions to Barbie Dreams is f**king hilarious,” she added. “Everyone is saying how disrespectful Barbie Dreams is, and that’s why I f**king love it.”
Minaj surprised fans by releasing Queen on Friday (10Aug18).
The album's release date was shifted at least twice, and earlier this month she pushed it back from 10 August to the 17th due to a sample-clearance issue with a Tracy Chapman song.
Queen is Nicki's fourth studio album, and her first in four years, since the double-platinum certified The Pinkprint.
