Nicki Minaj didn’t waste time in responding to Kanye “Ye” West’s public diss over their “New Body” song collaboration. During an Instagram Live session, the 41-year-old “Superbass” artist explained the reason why she didn’t give him the go-ahead for her part of the single.
“Now regarding Kanye, that train has left the station,” she said. “No disrespect in any way. I just put out a brand new album. Why would I put out a song that’s been out for three years? Come on guys.”
On December 14, Ye, 46, tweeted a screenshot of a text message that he sent to Nicki. The message read, “Hi, it’s Ye. May I call you about clearing ‘New Body’ on the album?” The “Jesus Walks” rapper even tagged Nicki in his tweet. Not only that, but he was seen putting her on blast in a now-viral social media video.
. @NICKIMINAJ pic.twitter.com/gn9jijEpVD
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2023
“I made that girl rewrite her verse three times for ‘Monster,’” Ye said to a crowd of people. “I supported her career. You understand what I’m saying? So, I don’t know what it is.”
Nicki Minaj – “Now regarding Kanye, that train has left the station. No disrespect in any way, I just put out a brand new album. Why would I put out a song that’s been out for 3 years? Come on guys.”
Kanye West – “I made that girl rewrite her verse 3 times for “Monster.” I… pic.twitter.com/4KwlHxeJ32
— noname_nocaste (@NoName_NoCaste_) December 15, 2023
Ye and Nicki recorded “New Body” in 2018 along with Ty Dolly $ign for Ye’s album Yandhi, which he later scrapped. The track was leaked in 2019. Its lyrics promote a person’s “new body” after getting plastic surgery, which fueled rumors that the song was a tribute to Ye’s now-ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
In one of the verses, Ye raps, “New ass, new tits, new bitch, who this?” and the chorus reportedly reads, “Can’t wait to see your new body / Don’t be actin’ like you don’t know nobody / No body count on your new body / I’ll be the first one to hit your new body.”
For Nicki’s original verse, she rapped, “Ayo, you ain’t f**k me, you f**ked the old body / You ain’t f**k Nicki, you f**ked Nicole body / Ain’t no miles on this here new body / Off with they heads, these bitches is nobodies.”
After the track was leaked, Ye publicly explained that he was trying to re-work the lyrics to be less sexually explicit for his album Jesus Is King. However, Nicki claimed that she had already written “three different verses” and wasn’t seeing “eye to eye” with the “Stronger” artist anymore, according to Page Six.
In 2020, though, Nicki’s originally recorded verse went viral on TikTok, which seemingly prompted her to ask Ye to consider releasing that version of the song. At the time, the “Starships” artist told Hot 106, “The public adored ‘New Body.’ … ‘New Body’ is the biggest hit record that never came out. Everybody knows that’s the hit that got away.”