Yikes is right. Nicki Minaj treated her Barbz to a snippet from an unreleased new track called “Yikes” on February 3, and while the beats are sick, some fans aren’t feeling a specific lyric. Nicki, 37, references civil rights icon Rosa Parks while talking about her haters, and she’s being called “disrespectful” on Twitter for the move. “All you b***hes Rosa Parks, uh oh, get your ass up,” Nicki rhymes in the Instagram video (watch below) posted, coincidentally, just hours before what would have been Rosa’s 107th birthday — and during Black History Month. “Nicki Minaj need to leave Rosa Parks [alone],” one Twitter user wrote after hearing the song. “Nicki Minaj did NOT say Rosa Parks get your ass up. She didn’t. Nah. I cant believe this.”
“I hope @NICKIMINAJ take that line about Rosa Parks out of her song. Hella disrespectful. Nothing funny about a black woman being told to get up and move to the back of the bus and it’s black history month. Some sh*t you just don’t say. That was a defining moment in our history,” another fan wrote. As journalist Ernest Owens pointed out, “Today is February 4th. Rosa Parks would have been 107 years old if she was still living to see her birthday today. Y’all go remind Nicki Minaj that. Quick history lesson: She never got up, she stayed seated. The lyric makes no sense.”
“Nicki Minaj need to leave Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman alone. They both have fought the good fight, let them ladies Rest In Peace. 😭😭😂,” another Twitter user wrote, reminding everyone of Nicki’s other controversial statements about a historical figure. The drama came in 2018 when Travis Scott beat her out for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard chart with his album Astroworld. Nicki seemingly compared herself to the abolitionist while talking about her fight to get Queen to top the charts.
“Yikes” isn’t the only new Nicki music we’re hearing lately. She guest versed on Meghan Trainor‘s “Nice To Meet Ya“, and it’s a bop. In the song, Nicki calls herself “the champ” and raps about getting rid of the “snakes” in her life.