Nicki Minaj has released her first track of 2023, 'Red Ruby Da Sleeze'.
On the eve of the song's release, the rap star warned ghost writers "they will be scrambling" and declared that Nicki is "still on hiatus" while she channels her Chinese alter-ego Chun-Li from the 2018 track of the same name.
The 40-year-old star wrote on Instagram: "#RedRubyDaSleeze tmrw night. ghost writers all around the world are scrambling. Just watch. Nicki still on hiatus. This b**** right here tho? She outside. (sic)"
'Red Ruby Da Sleeze' sees Nicki spit over a sample of Lumidee's 2003 hit 'Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)'.
The fiery star raps: “Red Ruby Da Sleeze, Chinese on my sleeve/ These wannabe Chun-Li’s, anyway, ni hao/ Who the f*** told b****** they was me now?"
The single follows 2022's mega-hit 'Super Freaky Girl', which sampled Rick James' raunchy 1981 hit 'Super Freak'.
Meanwhile, Nicki recently blasted new artists who rip off established musicians.
The music star fumed that it was “irking the c***” out of her that artists today have no originality.
She said: “What I’m seeing now is that so many new artists are trying to become the person they looked up to instead of giving us a new flavour, and it’s irking the c*** out of me.
“I know I could see so much talent in some of the new artists but they lose me when I’m seeing the person who they are trying to be like, or sound like, more than I’m seeing who they are.
“So if I’m hearing too much of that artist who already has hits out, when I’m finished listening to your song or watching your performance, I’m going to play that artist.
“And so if I’m hearing too much of that artist who already has hits out, when I’m finished listening to your song or watching your performance, I’m going to go and play that artist. I’m not going to go and look more into you, because you’ve just reminded me so much of the other person. Now you just woke up all the other hits that they had in my head, and it’s later for you.”
She said about starting out in music: “When I started falling in love with rap, I felt like everybody was their own unique thing. Whether it was the Jay-Zs and the DMXs or the Wu-Tang Clans or the Nases or the Pacs or the Biggies.
“Even the female rappers, whether it was Eve, MC Lyte, who I’ve always loved, even Left Eye’s voice was so unique, to Salt-N-Pepa. (Lil) Kim and Foxy (Brown) never even sounded alike to me. Everyone had their own thing.
“You had to! Because think about it, we had a magazine that we might see our favourite person on. We couldn’t just go and binge mad photos on their Instagram and see their personal life and see this and see that. So you had to stand out. You might be in one photo in the magazine for the next couple of months, you know?
“I don’t know what’s happening, but I want to urge all the new artists to just believe in yourself, trust that you are that superstar that you loved coming up, and get that something special! Please! For god’s sake!”
