The long-awaited “New Body” has been on the back burner since 2018
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage; Brad Barket/Getty
Nicki Minaj; Kanye West
The long-awaited Nicki Minaj and Kanye West collaboration “New Body” won’t be seeing new life anytime soon — at least, not according to Minaj.
The “Super Freaky Girl” rapper, 41, appeared to shut down West’s request that the track, which has been on the back burner since at least 2018, be included on his upcoming album Vultures.
West, 46, got the ball rolling on Thursday, when he tweeted a screenshot of a text message he’d seemingly sent Minaj asking for permission to release “New Body” on Vultures, a new project made with Ty Dolla $ign as the superduo ¥$.
“Hi it’s ye,” West wrote in the text, which he shared to X (formerly Twitter). “May I call you about clearing new body on the new album.”
Kanye West/X
Though the text did not receive an immediate response from Minaj, she did address its release in an Instagram Live, explaining that the song would not be coming out because the moment had passed.
“Now regarding Kanye, that train has left the station, OK?” she said. “No disrespect in any way, I just put out a brand new album. Now why would I put out a song that has been out for three years? Come on guys. You know?”
Minaj — who released her fifth album Pink Friday 2 earlier this month — recorded “New Body” with West and Ty Dolla $ign in 2018 for the rapper’s album Yandhi, which was ultimately scrapped.
The “Stronger” rapper later said that he had plans to rework the track for his 2019 gospel record Jesus Is King, which did not sit well with Minaj.
“What’s funny is that I did a song with Kanye, that he now wants to transform into a gospel song. I done wrote three different verses chile, and I don’t know. We ain’t seeing eye to eye on it,” she told The Shade Room in 2019. “We’ll see what happens with that.”
The song eventually leaked, and though it went viral on TikTok, Minaj doubled down on the fact that it likely would never be released in a February 2022 interview with Hot 106.
Mike Coppola/Getty
Nicki Minaj performs at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2023
“I respect everybody and where they are in life, where they are spiritually. The public adored ‘New Body.’ Like, ‘New Body’ is the biggest hit record that never came out,” she said. “Had ‘New Body’ been out when [West] was not in his gospel era, then it would’ve seen the light of day. But it didn’t, so it wasn’t meant to be. Everybody knows that’s the hit that got away. … I think the ship has sailed for ‘New Body.’ … It is what it is, sometimes stuff happens like that in our world.”
While the fate of the song remains unclear, as it’s still in the track listing for Vultures, Minaj is riding high on the release of Pink Friday 2, which features collaborations from stars like Drake, 50 Cent, J. Cole, Lil Wayne and more.
On an Instagram Live, Minaj — who announced an international tour on Monday — called the album an “incredible body of work that I am so proud of.”
She added, “This entire album will be the biggest gift I have ever given humanity thus far. I can stand by that. I will bet any amount of money that Pink Friday 2 the album is going to make people fall in love immediately.”
West, meanwhile, has been under fire in recent years for antisemitic comments, which has led to the loss of his billionaire status after he lost deals with brands like Adidas, Balenciaga and Gap.
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