Ms. Onika Maraj has not been letting us breathe since her startup circa 2009. The Queen’s native time and time again has proven to us that she is a force to be reckoned with – especially when it comes to “diss tracks” and shade. One of the most famous examples would be the beloved and widely controversial “Miley, what’s good?”, where she attacked Miley Cyrus at 2015 Video Music Awards for shading her in an interview. Even though at the moment only three albums have been released, she is one of the most streamed and popular artists to date.
Recently, she has driven fans absolutely wild with cryptic messages Via Twitter. On April 8th, Minaj tweeted “4” and then quickly deleted it. There have been a number of conspiracies and ideas that have speculated due to this, many of which are guessing she is releasing her fourth studio album.
https://twitter.com/NickiMViews/status/983112524454350848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rap-up.com%2F2018%2F04%2F09%2Fnicki-minaj-4-tweet-fuels-album-speculation%2F
The number “4” could mean anything from a makeup line to a new single. The Barbz would have been left guessing to how long “4” actually meant – from hours, days, weeks or even months. We truly did not know until for the second day in a row, she tweeted another cryptic number.
Waitttt @NICKIMINAJ #nickiminaj tweeted 4 yesterday and today 3. Bitch she’s counting downnnn💖💖💖 omggggg pic.twitter.com/FPreVxOdiU
— LA NICKI 🅴 (@NickiAndSpice) April 9, 2018
The big reveal came Tuesday afternoon at about 12 PM (3 PM Eastern) when she tweeted:
https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/983775007854571520
On Thursday, April 12th, Nicki Minaj released two singles featuring a track titled “Barbie Tingz.” Minaj has also featured a brand new persona of hers – a black interpretation of the cherished Capcom’s Street Fighter character Chun-Li.
https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/983775217460768768
Chun-Li is considered a strong and independent female character in the series, standing out as the first female introduced to the game. Though you might think Nicki is culturally appropriating Asian culture, she has South Asian heritage herself through her father’s side. These two tracks are a major introduction to her fourth album, which has been waited on since 2014’s Pinkprint. If you check your trending section on Twitter, you’ll most likely see about four different hashtags with millions of people going insane over these new tracks. I myself have been waiting all day and the second they were dropped on Spotify, I fell in love. Within two hours of the initial release, Barbie Tingz and Chun Li are officially on the Top 5 in the United States via iTunes. Though it is way too early to tell, I think it’s safe to say that her new album will break ground in popularity and boundaries will be pushed like never before.
Nicki Minaj is currently occupying 2 positions on the Top 5 of US iTunes, with #BarbieThingz and #ChunLi.
Congratulations, @NICKIMINAJ! pic.twitter.com/L5lVlr7FWk
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 12, 2018
