by Tatiana Torres
In an unexpected announcement on Thursday, Sept. 5, hip-hop artist, Nicki Minaj sent many of her 20 million Twitter followers into a panic when declaring via Twitter that she was retiring from the music industry to “have my family.”
In the tweet, Minaj referenced her hit single “Girl on Fire,” which she collaborated with artist Alicia Keys, when asking her fans to “keep reppin me, do it til da death of me, [x] in the box- cuz ain’t nobody checkin me.”
Minaj, rocketed to fame with tracks like “Super Bass,” “Starships,” and later “Anaconda.” She is the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously on the Billboard 100 chart. She is the first and only female rapper on Forbes Hip-Hop cash king list. Throughout her career, Minaj was nominated for 10 Grammys, hauled in five MTV Video Music Awards and earned a Guinness World Record in 2017 for most Billboard Hot 100 entries by a solo female artist.
This twitter announcement came as a shock to her fans because it had recently been reported that she was working on her fifth studio album.
She has since then deleted her tweet announcing her retirement stating that it was much too ‘abrupt.’ Does this mean she is having second thoughts?
In a second tweet, Minaj proclaimed her love for her ‘barbies’ tweeting that, “I’m still right here. Still madly in love with you guys & you know that.” She then stated that her retirement should have been ‘a Queen Radio discussion & it will be,’ referring to her Beats 1 show called Queen Radio and apologized for the hasty announcement. “The tweet was abrupt & insensitive, I apologize,” Minaj tweeted.
Fellow artists have expressed their surprise regarding Minaj’s sudden announcement. Rapper, 50 Cent, posted on Instagram to let his fans know how he felt about the situation. “I don’t want @nickiminaj to retire just take a break.”
Malaysia Alford, junior history major and Nicki Minaj fan since 2010, expresses how she felt when she read the tweet. “I was genuinely happy for her. I found myself defending her as people were attacking her relevance in the rap game. I want her to start her family,” Alford said.
She added that no matter what happens, Nicki has found a fan for life in her.
“I believe that she deserves to take a long break. I think she’s gonna take all the time she needs to live her best life and then fingers crossed she’s featured on another artists’ album,” said Alford.
Alexandra Ortiz, sophomore nursing major said, “I felt so sad when I found out she was retiring because she is such a powerful and talented rapper.”
Maddi Dolan, sophomore journalism major, recalled how she grew up listening to Nicki Minaj’s music. “She was very popular when I was younger, therefore she has always been a part of the pop culture I grew up in,” said Dolan.
When asked if she would continue to be a fan of Minaj after she retires, Dolan said “After a while, if she does not produce any new songs, I probably would progressively stop listening to her music.”
Tatiana Torres can be reached at tatiana.torres@spartants.ut.edu