Nicki Minaj has shared the first trailer for her eponymous docuseries Nicki, a six-part event that will chronicle the rapper’s meteoric rise to stardom in the 2010s.
The trailer features a litany of notable quotes from Minaj, opening with the declaration that “you don’t get a manual on how to be a famous rapper – you just learn it as you go”. Reflecting on her roots as an up-and-coming rapper in the mid-2000s, she continues: “I think the woman [I was] back then, she wasn’t afraid to fail. Female rappers weren’t really charting at the time… I’m fighting for the girls who never thought they could win.”
We also learn that Minaj never sought out the spotlight, as she says of her initial ambitions: “I never wanted to be mainstream – mainstream came to be.” But an equally large focus in the six-part Nicki series seems to be the struggles that Minaj has faced as a woman in the hip-hop scene, with the rapper noting that she “simply [doesn’t] get the respect that men do”.
“This industry is just not a loving [or] supportive place,” Minaj says later in the trailer. “It pretends sometimes, but it’s just not.” She went on to address her drug use as a coping mechanism, saying that she “could medicate myself and tell myself it’s okay, but when the high comes down, you’re still there”, and noted that after taking a break from music after 2018’s ‘Queen’, she “became the strongest I have ever been in my life”.
It also looks as though the series will touch on the making of Minaj’s upcoming fifth album, as the trailer ends with the rapper saying: “I have to make music in order to stay sane”.
Check out the first trailer for Nicki below:
Coming SOON!!!! The #NickiDocumentary you didn’t know you needed. Love you so much. ???????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/KbOY5fPU0s
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 28, 2022
A premiere date for Nicki is yet to be revealed, however it’s been confirmed that the series will stream on HBO Max before the end of the year.
The trailer release comes ahead of Minaj’s next single, ‘Freaky Girl’, which is set to drop on Thursday August 11. That’ll be her fifth release for the year, following the Lil Baby joints ‘Do We Have A Problem?’ and ‘Bussin’, ‘Blick Blick’ with Coi Leray and ‘We Go Up’ with Fivio Foreign.
Earlier this month, Minaj attempted to host a meet and greet with fans in North London, however it was promptly cancelled by local police due to “overcrowding”.
It came after her appearance at this year’s Wireless Festival, and saw hundreds of fans gather outside Cafe KOKO – attached to the newly refurbished KOKO theatre – in the midst of a heatwave. The rapper was delayed and reportedly did not arrive until almost 6pm, by which time the crowds were so heavy that Minaj was flanked by police in order to enter the venue.
This coming Monday (August 1), Minaj will perform at the third show of Drake‘s ‘October World Weekend’ concert series, appearing alongside Lil Wayne to deliver a “Young Money reunion” in Toronto. Shortly after tickets for the show went on sale, fans took to social media to complain about their outlandish prices.
Also this month, Minaj responded to rumours that she’s expecting her second child, and appeared to diss Kanye West at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Her set at the festival marked her first live performance in around three years, and featured a medley of her early guest verses. When her verse from West’s 2010 single ‘Monster’ was queued up, however, Nicki cut it short.
According to West’s ex-girlfriend, Amber Rose, the rapper thought Minaj “killed him” on her ‘Monster’ verse. In a recent interview, Rose said: “He didn’t know who Nicki was back then. I had Nicki pull up to the studio and I put her on ‘Monster.’ She was still coming up and I saw her in the studio and I was like, ‘Oh my god this bitch is fucking talented as hell.’
Rose claimed West wanted Minaj’s verse to be removed from the song at one point, because it was too good. She added: “He said, ‘How the fuck did you bring in a bitch that killed me on my own song?’”