On Sunday night, Lil Wayne’s colleagues, supporters, collaborators and family members got together in style in Miami at the “Welcome Home, Tunechi” party. Hip-hop luminaries like Drake, Bryan “Baby” Williams, Busta Rhymes and DJ Khaled all came out to support Weezy and express just how much they were happy to see him out of Rikers Island and back on the streets. But nobody was happier than protégé Nicki Minaj.

“I’m just so happy. I just want to hold him and hug him and kiss him,” Minaj said of Wayne. Asked about the first conversation they had when they saw each other, Minaj noted that Wayne was completely up on things.

“You know what he talked to me about? ‘Roman’s Revenge,’ ” she said, referencing the recently leaked collaboration with Eminem from her upcoming debut album, Pink Friday. “He was like, ‘What’s up, Roman?’ I was like, ‘How did you know about that?’

Though she was unsure about the immediate future for her friend and label boss, she certainly had a wish list. “I’m pretty sure he’s going to go tour,” she told Sway on the red carpet before the party. “I’d like to see him do a world tour this time. And I’d love to see him in a movie, I think. I don’t know why. I really want to see him break into that.”

No matter what is next for Wayne, Minaj felt that even though the past several months have been difficult, she feels like it was ultimately positive. “It just feels like no matter what, we always just rise above everything,” she said. “We went through this, and our team is stronger than ever. Wayne, we held you down when you were gone. That’s the craziest thing. It’s the most meaningful thing as a CEO to go away and have your team hold it down.”

Lady Gaga is no stranger to hip-hop and R&B collaborations, lending her talents to efforts from Kid Cudi, Wale and Beyoncé. While Gaga hasn’t jumped on a record with rap’s reigning collabo mistress, Nicki Minaj, the Young Money lyricist says she’s down to change that.

During her “RapFix Live” interview, Minaj revealed she would be interested in jumping on a track with Gaga — especially if it’s guaranteed to be a monster.

“I’m inspired by her creativity,” Minaj said. “The women in the game, I never say I would never work with them because, in fact, if there’s an opportunity for me to work with them, and it’s a way that we can kill the game and do something crazy, why would I turn that down?”

The Young Money diva added, “I love collaborating with artists. I’ve been a feature queen for the last year, right?”

Like Gaga, Minaj’s bi-curious lyrics and zany swagger have helped beef up her hearty gay following. The “Right Thru Me” spitter said in addition to championing the struggles of the LGBT community, she stands up for all of her fans battling hate.

“It’s important for me to stand up for anyone that is being ridiculed and bullied. I don’t differentiate between who I’m speaking on behalf of. If three black kids … committed suicide and I needed to speak on behalf of them, I would have spoken up,” she said. “Because I think that, at the end of the day, you don’t have to love everyone’s lifestyle. You don’t have to embrace everyone. But I do think you have to respect everyone.”

Minaj, who is careening toward superstardom on the strength of her hard-hitting rhymes, reminded fans that hateful barbs can hurt more than physical jabs.

“Some people think like, ‘Well, if I don’t hit someone, I’m not hurting them.’ But those words that you say to a person — that bullying, that ridicule — it hurts them even more,” she said. “So yes, I spoke up for the gay community and I will do that for all and any of my fans if they’re being tormented, because it’s sad.”

Nicki Minaj’s buzz can’t get much bigger than it is right now.

Like Drake in the months leading up to the release of his debut, Thank Me Later, Miss Minaj is everywhere and she’s not the only one benefiting from it. To capitalize on her buzz, there have been a number of artists, including Usher, Ludacris, Trey Songz, Jay Sean, Sean Garrett and Sean Kingston, who have turned to her to give their singles an extra boost.

But there’s another trend going on as well: Female artists asking Nicki for a little girl power on their power ballads. Mariah Carey did it first on “Up Out My Face,” then Christina Aguilera reached out for “Woohoo” and, most recently, Keyshia Cole made her long-awaited return to the R&B game by asking Nicki to jump on her new single, “I Ain’t Thru.”

But why stop there? Nicki Minaj could help a whole bunch of other female artists—and, in the process, help her own career—by working with them in the near future.

To help give her some ideas, RapFix hatched a list of women Nicki should consider recording with soon and put the grrrrrr back in girl power.

Nicki Minaj x Willow Smith

We almost got this when an unauthorized leak of a “Whip My Hair” remix surfaced (Nicki’s contribution turned out to be an old verse). But, let’s put it this way: If she can hop on a track with a 9 year-old and give us a PG verse that still sounds good, it’d be an impressive feat—and a reason for Disney to give her a shot at recording a song for a soundtrack sometime soon.
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You can take the girl out of Queens, but you can’t take the Queens out of the girl. Nicki Minaj premiered her stripped-down video for “Right Thru Me” on MTV Wednesday (October 27), and it is quite a departure from her boisterous “Check It Out” video that debuted Tuesday. Instead of blond hair and futuristic outfits, Nicki looks like she’s about to walk down Jamaica Avenue in 50 Cent’s hometown.

The opening frame of “Right Thru Me” shows Nicki arguing in a kitchen with a man that seems to be her boyfriend. The two argue about whether he’s “disrespecting her” by talking behind her back, and he threatens to leave after the MC breaks a glass in frustration. Then Nicki, sporting black wavy hair and pink fingernails, cuddles her gent, apologizes for overreacting and asks him to stay. “You have to trust me,” he whispers to her.

The clip then bounces between shots of the couple talking tenderly and Nicki preventing the gentlemen from driving away by refusing to leave the driver’s seat of his car.

“You make me laugh/ You make me hoarse from yelling at you and getting at you,” she rhymes. “Why are you speaking when no one asked you?”

In between the scenes, video director Diane Martel inserted frames of Nicki behind a full-length window covered with steam as she sings the chorus. Ultimately, the clip is one of the first opportunities for the femcee’s fans to get a glimpse of what she looks like in casual attire, which matches the aesthetic of the song.

Like the steam-covered door after she wipes away the condensation, Nicki’s “Right Thru Me” allows fans to see her clearly and without any pretense.

What do you think of the “Right Thru Me” video? Tell us in the comments below!

Source: MTV