In a recent interview, Nicki Minaj discussed how her songs are treated by radio compared to other artists and how she feels about the issue.
The Pink Print rapper recently spoke on what she thought was going on with radio plays and how they might be affecting her on the Billboard Hot 100. Nicki Minaj
“Somebody showed me this, now this is the last thing. One of my fans pulled up- pulled something up and then says, ‘Wait a minute, this artist song came out and it’s not on Spotify- top Spotify, it’s not on top Apple, not on top iTunes, not on top Amazon but there radio play is five times what Nicki is getting, why?’ And then, two or three weeks from now they’ll tell yall, ‘Look! This song is better than the songs Nicki dropped because see, it’s so high on Billboard!'”
Minaj continues, “So you’re telling me, that if an artist drops a song and clearly the people are playing it and it’s top ten on Apple for two weeks, and it’s top on Spotify, and it’s top, top, top, top. The radio can decide if they wanna play that song or not and then, it makes that artist look like- ‘Oh yeah people ain’t feeling your stuff.’ What does this all mean?” Minaj asks the leading question.
The interview continues, stitched together by the Twitter user who tweeted the clip, “Joe you tell me. We all know, if the radio plays something over, and over, and over how many times have we ended up liking a song we didn’t like in the beginning because the radio played it over and over?”
Joe replies, “A million times. Conditioning.”
“Right!” Minaj says. She continues, “So now they’re telling you ‘So the fans figured out a way-‘ Cause when me and 6ix9ine were number one they was mad as heeeell. A lot of people were mad.” Minaj said as she broke into laughter.
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To conclude her point the Roman Reloaded artist said, “But now what happens when it’s naturally, with the general public, still on the top ten of Apple. And a song that hasn’t touched (emphasized) the top ten of Apple, or the top ten of Spotify, top ten of Amazon, Tidal, whatever. So what does that mean Joe? You tell me. What’s fair? If a song comes out and the general public doesn’t go to stream it, you’re telling me it should be played on the radio more than my song that is being stable in all of the streaming services?”
Nicki Minaj speaks on radio play making some some songs seem bigger than they actually are and how it affects the charts and public perception.
https://t.co/HML5FPeXt6— Rap Alert (@rapalert6) March 9, 2022
Minaj seems to be asking the audience, and Joe, a lot of leading questions to get her point across, although, her point is clear— she is saying the radio pushes certain songs regardless of those songs’ popularity with the general public in order to promote certain artists.
