As one of rap’s leading ladies, Nicki Minaj has had a slew of record-breaking moments and chart-topping hits. It may have been a few years since her last album, but her impact is still very apparent.
Six years ago while her third studio album, The Pinkprint, was reigning supreme, she dropped the lusty video for “Anaconda.” The visual was sexy, vibrant and bold. It has also amassed over one billion views on YouTube, making it the first solo female rap single in history to achieve this and the Southside Queen is the first female rapper to claim such a feat. Other songs of hers that have surpassed 1B views are “Bang Bang” with Jessie J and Ariana Grande, “Hey Mama” with David Guetta, Bebe Rexha, and Afrojack, and Jason Derulo’s “Swalla,” featuring Minaj, alongside Ty Dolla $ign. Minaj also ties with Rihanna and Katy Perry for the most overall videos to accrue over a billion views.
This feat comes a year after Minaj listed “Anaconda” as one of the three hits she wished she never recorded. In a 2014 interview with Complex, the rapper expressed that she created “Anaconda” to “embrace curvy women.” She wanted the song to “be sexual but be playful.” At the time, she wanted to be taken seriously and for people to respect her as an artist, so the seductive visual was a fun way for her to “do whatever the hell [she] wanted.”
UMG (on behalf of Nicki Minaj/Cash Money); LatinAutor – SonyATV, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, Sony ATV Publishing, LatinAutor – UMPG, UMPI, SOLAR Music Rights Management, BMI – Broadcast Music Inc., LatinAutorPerf, UMPG Publishing, CMRRA, and 11 Music Rights Societies
-[Audacy.com]
