Nicki Minaj backed out of an appearance at the Summer Jam concert, held annually by New York hip-hop radio station Hot 97, on June 3 after one of the radio station’s DJs criticized Minaj’s songs.
The comments were made by Peter Rosenberg, who is one of the morning show hosts on the station. “I know there are some chicks here waiting to sing ‘Starships’ later — I’m not talking to y’all right now,’ ” he reportedly told the crowd, according to The New York Times, referring to Minaj’s single. “I’m here to talk about real hip-hop.” Rosenberg then went on to call the song an expletive.
Minaj was scheduled to be the headline performer at the event and even Tweeted about her excitement to appear writing, “History will be made @ Hot97 Summer Jam tonight. I really hope you’re there to witness it.”
However, after Rosenberg made his remarks, rapper Lil Wayne — who heads Minaj’s record label Young Money — Tweeted, “Young Money ain’t doing summer jam.”
Minaj later wrote on her Twitter page, “Wow. U [expletive] just [expletive] up history. But the President has spoken. ”
Rosenberg has long been a critic of Minaj’s style of hip-hop and in a February segment of his show, he said, “This song right here, ‘Starships,’ is literally one of the most sell out songs in Hip-Hop history!”
“Starships” is a song from Minaj’s second studio album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded” and was released in February. The song landed in the No. 5 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and went platinum in May. Minaj is largely known by mainstream audiences for her single “Super Bass,” off her debut album “Pink Friday.” The song has sold over four million copies and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
“I go above and beyond for my fans,” Minaj Tweeted on June 3. “But won’t ever go against wayne’s word. What he says, goes.”
On June 4, Rosenberg backed up his initial statements made on the stage. “Last night I said nothing different than I have ever said,” he wrote on Twitter. “It was not a personal dis..it was starships is [expletive]..WHICH WE ALL KNOW IS TRUE.”
Singer Lauryn Hill, who appeared at the event with rapper Nas, later wrote about her thoughts of the incident on her Twitter page.
“I don’t have details on exactly what transpired between the station and the artists, but I do support artists standing by their beliefs, and walking with integrity,” She said on June 4. “We have to find a better way to commercially exploit music, while giving artists their proper respect.”
“This cannot be done while taking their contributions for granted, or trying to control the scope of their growth and power through threats and fear tactics,” Hill added. “We can do better than this, there is a better way, or else ‘we’ (the proverbial we) find ourselves in danger of being hypocrites!!!”