Pink Friday 2
Nicki Minaj has announced the rescheduled date for her postponed concert in Manchester, England.
The rap superstar, 41, took to social media on Monday (May 27) to provide Barbz with an update on her May 25 show at Manchester’s Co-Op Live that was called off following her arrest in Amsterdam for allegedly carrying drugs.
“OK guys, I was JUST RE-ADVISED that we actually CAN NOT do any other date for the make up #gagcityMANCHESTER date besides JUNE 3rd,” Minaj wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
She added, “So JUNE 3rd is the new official date for all ticket holders who originally had tickets to the MAY 25th #Manchester show. I apologize for all the inconvenience this has caused. I really hope you can make the #JUNE3rd show. It’ll be really special. Ticketmaster will contact you to advise officially.”
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On Saturday (May 25), the “Super Bass” rapper was released from police custody in the Netherlands just hours after recording herself being arrested by Amsterdam authorities allegedly “carrying drugs.” As a result, the artist was forced to postpone her Manchester concert as part of her Pink Friday 2 Tour.
“Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, the events of today have made it impossible,” promoter Live Nation said in a statement on Saturday. “We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”
After “sitting in a jail cell for 5-6 hours” before arriving in Manchester, Minaj gave an update in a post on X Saturday night.
“We will have another date for tonight’s show shortly & I’ll probably be able to share it tmrw,” she wrote. “One July option & one June option is currently being discussed. I’ll find a way to not only make up the date with the performance but I’m going to create an added bonus for everyone that had a tkt for this show. Promise.”
The “Super Freaky Girl” rapper also shared her hotel location and welcomed local fans to stop by and say hello.
“Barbz, I’m going on the balcony so if you’re outside I’ll be able to see you & I may come downstairs,” she wrote. “I’ll be out there for about an hour. Rlly wanted to at least get to see you. But if you’re in bed plz STAY THERE.”
See Minaj’s announcement about her rescheduled Manchester concert on X below.
https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/1795143672272400655/history
Nicki Minaj was seemingly arrested in Amsterdam on Saturday (May 25) while on her way to perform a concert in the United Kingdom.
The “Super Bass” rapper captured the incident in an Instagram Live video that was later reposted by her fans on social media. In the clip, an Amsterdam official is heard saying he wants to take Minaj into custody for “carrying drugs,” despite her claim that she was not holding any contraband.
“I’m not going in there. I need a lawyer present,” Minaj, 41, replies to the authorities, who repeatedly ask her to step into a vehicle and stop recording.
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Minaj was scheduled to perform at Manchester’s Co-Op Live on Saturday night as part of her Pink Friday 2 Tour. Another officer in the video is heard referencing the concert, saying officials would “try to get [her] there” as soon as possible.
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“Oh, so I’m under arrest?” she asks as the officials, who responds with, “Yes.” He didn’t offer any further explanation.
The clip ends with Minaj voluntarily getting into the police van.
It was not clear at press time if Minaj had been booked at a police station. A spokesperson for Royal Netherlands Marechaussee military police told TMZ that an American woman had been arrested for possessing “soft drugs,” but declined to identify the individual by name or the specific type of alleged drugs.
Billboard has reached out to Minaj’s representatives for comment.
The “Super Freaky Girl” rapper shared another video on Saturday that appears to be an airport official telling her that authorities need to search her bags.
“Now they said they found weed & that another group of ppl have to come here to weigh the pre-rolls,” Minaj wrote on X (formerly Twitter), later noting that her plane was being delayed a couple hours.
“Keep in mind they took my bags without consent,” she added, pointing out that marijuana is legal in Amsterdam. “My security has already advised them those pre-rolls belong to him. Oh yea & the pilot wants me to take my ig post down.”
On Instagram, the rapper suggested that her Pink Friday 2 tour was being “sabotaged.” “They’ve been trying to stop me from coming to every show,” she wrote. “They took my bags before I could see them. Put it on the plane. Now saying they’re waiting on customs. This is what it looks like when ppl are paid big money to try to sabotage a tour after all else failed. Everything they’ve done is illegal.”
The incident prompted the Barbz to share their displeasure on social media, resulting in the hashtag “#FREENICKI” trending on X.
See Minaj’s post on Instagram below.
The opening seconds of Pink Friday 2 sound a lot more like a Billie Eilish record than a Nicki Minaj one. That’s because the album’s first track, “Are You Gone Already,” is built on top of a sped-up sample of Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over,” particularly its harmonized intro.
But Minaj doesn’t stop there. Nine of the 22 tracks on Pink Friday 2 contain a prominent sample (using a section of a previous recording) or interpolation (using a section of a previous melody or lyric without its original recording) of a previous song, from the Notorious B.I.G. sample in “Barbie Dangerous” to the Blondie sample in “My Life.”
This reliance on sampling and interpolating older songs on Pink Friday 2 will not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the Hot 100 in recent years. Many of the chart’s top hits this decade were built on top of older songs — for example, take Jack Harlow‘s No. 1 “First Class” (which borrows the chorus from “Glamorous” by Fergie), “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha (which takes after “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Eiffel 65 and Gabry Ponte), “Kiss Me More” by SZA and Doja Cat (which interpolates “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John), and even Minaj’s own hit “Barbie World” with Ice Spice (which is based on “Barbie Girl” by Aqua).
Sampling has been around since the advent of hip-hop, but this more recent influx seemed to take root at the turn of the decade due to a convergence of factors. In 2020, amid COVID-19 lockdowns, millions of music fans flocked to TikTok, making it an important destination for music discovery. The app tends to favor songs that feature catchy, short sound bites and sampling is an easy way to catch users’ attention quickly. Meanwhile, pop radio remained cautious about adding new songs into circulation, and recognizable samples became a good short-cut to an earworm hit.
At the same time, the music catalog market grew red-hot. Legends like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen sold their catalogs for some of the highest prices in music history, and those steep price tags encouraged buyers to get creative to earn a return on their investments. Companies like Primary Wave began popularizing “flip camps” — songwriting camps dedicated to encouraging the use of their catalogs in newer songs. Even more catalog owners started creating playlists of their songs that are available to sample and pitch them out to songwriters and producers.
While there are great potential upsides to these samples and interpolations, there’s a catch: Minaj will have to share a sizable portion of her publishing and master ownership with the rights holders of those older songs.
Typically, the more integral the sample or interpolation is to the new song, the more leverage the sample or interpolation rights holders have. Ariana Grande‘s “7 Rings” famously had to cede 90% of its publishing to the owners of the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog because the melody of “My Favorite Things” was such an essential part of “7 Rings.”
Still, as an executive at Primary Wave told Billboard last year about sampling: “if you’re starting off [the songwriting process] with a hit, that’s a great place to be.”
See below for a breakdown of every sample and interpolation on Pink Friday 2.
1. “Are You Gone Already”Sample: “When the Party’s Over” by Billie Eilish
2. “Barbie Dangerous”Sample: “Notorious Thugs” by Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
3. “FTCU” Sample: “Fuck The Club Up” by Wacka Flocka Flame (Ft. Pastor Troy & Slim Dunkin)
4. “Beep Beep”
5. “Fallin 4 U”
6. “Let Me Calm Down” (ft. J. Cole)
7. “RNB” (ft. Lil Wayne and Tate Kobang)
8. “Pink Birthday”Sample: “Pornography” by Travis Scott
9. “Needle” (ft. Drake)
10. “Cowgirl” (ft. Lourdiz)
11. “Everybody” (ft. Lil Uzi Vert)Sample: “Move Your Feet” by Junior SeniorInterpolates: “I Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert
12. “Big Difference”
13. “Red Ruby Da Sleeze“Sample: “Never Leave You Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh” by Lumidee
14. “Forward From Trini” (ft. Skillibeng and Skeng)
15. “Pink Friday Girls“Sample: “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cindi Lauper
16. “Super Freaky Girl”Sample: “Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer and “Super Freak” by Rick James
17. “Bahm Bahm”
18. “My Life“Sample: “Heart Of Glass” by Blondie
19. “Nicki Hendrix” (ft. Future)
20. “Blessings” (ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard)
21. “Last Time I Saw You”
22. “Just The Memories”
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