Let’s admit it: no one really believed that Nicki Minaj was going to stay retired. After saying she quit the rap game, the new Mrs. Kenneth Petty has torched Wendy Williams on Queen Radio, teamed up with Ariana Grande and Normani to release “Bad To You” (off the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack) and, now, spit some verses on Karol G’s new song. The 28-year-old Colombian superstar released “Tusa” on Nov. 7, which features Nicki flexing her multilingual skills! At the beginning of her verse, Nicki sings in Spanish, “Pero diste todo este llanto por nada / Ahora soy una chica mala,” which translates to “You cried for nothing / Since now I’m a bad girl,” per Genius. From there, the rapper launches into a flow about how she’s “the baddest b**ch” you’ve ever met.
Nicki and Karol also teamed up to translate the track into a music video! Complete with a renaissance-themed mansion and at one point, flying unicorns, Nicki and Karol let us know who the true queens are. Take away the magical palace, and their outfits alone conveyed that message. Nicki looked like a goddess in a white gown and later, a princess dripping in pink flames and jewels. Karol channeled similar vibes in a white leopard pantsuit and a mesh pink co-ord from Dyspnea.
Judging by the tiara Nicki rocked in the video, she’s not yet ready to give up her throne, despite her scary announcement. “I’ve decided to retire & have my family,” Nicki tweeted on Sept. 5. “I know you guys are happy now. To my fans, keep reppin me, do it til da death of me, [x] in the box – cuz aint nobody checkin’ me.” With that single tweet, the hearts of a billion Barbz were busted into itty-bitty pieces, and the outcry of grief was so loud that Nicki eventually had to walk back that “retirement” announcement. During a sitdown conversation with The Shade Room, Nicki revealed that when she said “retire,” she didn’t really mean, y’know, she’d actually retire.
“When I posted that retirement tweet, I knew that I still had music that I already had recorded that was still gonna come out,” she said.”The retirement was talking about my album, meaning do I want to go back and record my fifth album. That’s what I was talking about. But I knew that, of course, features… you know I always get asked to do features and I like features. So, it was really about the fifth album.”
“Nicki spoke too soon on a full retirement because she loves doing music way too much to retire,” a source told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY at the time. “She is looking to take some time off, but to fully retire isn’t going to happen. Her fans should expect her to take a bit of a break but not to be completely finished making music.”
Since taking the break, she’s married Kenneth petty in secret. And it’s no secret that Nicki has some beef with Wendy Williams. “How can you interview a bunch of rappers, where all they talk about is shooting and killing, then continue to mention somebody who actually did that, who did their time and paid their debts to society?” asked Nicki during the Nov. 1 episode of Queen Radio, while bringing up Wedny’s former husband, Kevin Hunter, and how their marriage fell apart due to his cheating.
“You sat up there being vicious all this time, and you probably paid for that man’s mistress for all these years, child, you paid for her shopping sprees, hotels, b**tch you probably paid for her delivery, ho. How you doin?”