Nicki Minaj reveals Kanye turned down a Yeezy collaboration because of Kim
10 March 2022, 11:51
Nicki Minaj completes walk challenge on TikTok
The rapstress opened up about Ye declining her offer to collaborate on his Yeezy brand, due to his concerns with Kim Kardadhian.
Nicki Minaj has opened up about a time where the approached Kanye West for a Yeezy collaboration, in her in-depth interview with Joe Budden.
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The 39-year-old superstar sat down for a tell-all interview for 'A Conversation With Joe Budden', where she spoke about motherhood, the rap scene and her future plans to become a mogul.
During the nearly two-hour conversation, Nicki spoke about her successful partnership with Fendi, which she got off the back of her 2018 single “Chun-Li.”
In the track, Nicki rapped the lyrics: ‘Fendi prints on’ and "that changed everything,” according Nicki.
“Once ‘Chun-Li’ came out and I said ‘Fendi prints on,’ all the girls started posting and saying ‘Fendi prints on,’ so Fendi gave me a deal.”
The 'Anaconda' rapstress' 2019 Fendi Prints On collection instantly sold out. “All of the stuff flew off the shelves,” Nicki added.
After the deal went well with Fendi, Nicki revealed that she approached Ye about a potential female partnership with Yeezy.
“I told Kanye about that. I was like, ‘Hey look, I’m about to do something and I just wanted to make sure I spoke to you first,’ because you know I have so much respect for him,” she said.
However, Ye declined the collaboration as he was concerned with how his then-wife Kim Kardashian would feel if he collaborated with another female celebrity.
“He was like, ‘Well, if I did something with you, I think my wife probably wouldn’t love that idea because I should be giving that to my wife instead, if I was doing a female version of the Yeezys or whatever, it probably should go to my wife.'”
While Nicki understood Ye's perspective, she was also taken aback due to comments he's made about the fashion industry refusing to give opportunities to Black artists.
“Kanye was very vocal about the fashion industry not letting him in at one time,” she said. “So if a Black female who you know has just shown herself to be sellable in that space…
I come to you as a Black man that I look up to, I’m doing that because you inspired me because you said the fashion industry didn’t want to let us in even though we’re so influential.”
Nicki added that she doesn’t know how Kim actually felt about her pitch.
“That’s how [Ye] thought she would feel about it and so it is what it is.” She decided to share the story as a cautionary tale about supporting your own.
A Conversation With Nicki Minaj & Joe Budden
“We have to be careful that when we put these things out there and when a door is open that we do figure out a way to have another Black face there in that space,” she said.
“That’s why it takes us so long to get into so many things, even though we are the most influential people on the planet.”
At another point in the interview with Joe Budden, Nicki also gave props to Lil’ Kim while teasing a potential Verzuz battle.
