Nicki Minaj and Big Fendi Officially Make a Public Mends

It looks like a new chapter has started between Nicki Minaj and one of her most profiled connections, her former manager, Big Fendi. The two sat down in an interview for the premiere episode of his podcast, Big Fendi Podcast, to discuss their history and make official mend.

According to Big Fendi, the interview was the first conversation he had with Nicki Minaj in twelve years. The “Barbie Dreams” rapper delved into her artistry saying how she views the music and “the game” as two separate lanes. She expressed her long-lasting love and passion for music but clarified “the game” as being different.

“I still have the same love and passion for music. It’s different,” she said. “Music and the game are different.”

Fendi went on to ask if bars still mattered to her, and Minaj did not hesitate to break down why. “I do. Do you?”

Highlighting her musical passion, Nicki broke down the challenge she has faced over the years being in the game when it comes to creating new music and staying on top.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m in a dilemma. Do I dumb it down to go with what’s happening now? And that’s why it be hard for me because I hate putting out something that everybody else is doing and looking like I am on the bandwagon. I always like to try and switch it up. But at the same time, if you want to make it in ‘the game’ you kind of have to follow ways and trends.”

She went on to reveal the approach she is taking with her upcoming new album.

“On the album we working on now, I feel like I’m finding a great balance.”
Fendi chimed in on how he believes Nicki set the bar for brown skin girls which became a challenge for the aspiring female rapper.

“I think brown skin rapper chicks, no disrespect, since you came in the game, it kind of made it hard for them,” said Fendi. “I think brown skin chicks gotta work a little harder. You set a bar for brown skin chicks. Cause a lot of chicks at that time were like ‘oh wow, Nicki poppin’ right now, I gotta at least catch up to look like her somewhat.”

She acknowledged the blatant plight of colorism upon Black women in the industry and expressed how the reality would apply to herself in any scneario.

“Well, I will say dark skin and brown skin women have to work extra harder in any field. Just like how I feel being black, a black woman, I feel like if a white woman and me were going for the same job at Wall Street I feel like I wouldn’t get the job off the rip just because of me being black. Unless I was double and triple times smarter than her or double and triple times better than her. So yes, I do agree with that.”

Delving into their history, Fendi mentioned that the last time he saw Nicki Minaj was back in 2008 at a Lil Wayne after tour party in North Carolina. It was only a matter of time he saw the importance of rebuilding their friendship.

“You know what, I gotta sit down with this girl and we gotta come to some type of balance because moving on in life and trying to prosper, you can’t hold no grudges.”

When asked by Nicki, “Why was you out here dissing me? Hurt?” Big Fendi admitted that he was indeed, hurt.

“I felt like part of it was like, I felt like I started something…,” Fendi started and Nicki finished his thought by chiming in, “and you didn’t reap the benefits of it,” she said. “Absolutely,” he replied. “And that goes for anything. In a relationship or whatever it might be, if you start something and you don’t reap the benefit from it you are going to feel like ‘Hey!’ But, at the end of the day, I feel like you did not give me my credit.”

He admitted that he was “salty and bitter” because he did not get anywhere financially and executives were not giving him the credit he perceived as deserving. Nicki did not hesitate to say that she has always acknowledged him and how there is always a bid on who helped her out.

“Everyone wants the stamp of ‘I did this for Nicki Minaj. At the end of the day, I did this for Nicki Minaj.’ But along the way my biggest push was you [Big Fendi] and the Come Up DVD,” said Nicki.

“We gelled also just as human beings outside of rap. We had good banter in front of the camera. We was playing, dissing each other, laugh and stuff like that. So, it just worked. But, I just want to make it clear that we weren’t cool for a while and I was out there busting my ass for a while by myself in Atlanta. So it wasn’t like as soon as I made it I dropped you. I would never do that.”

He recalled the shoutouts Nicki would do on DVDs and show post their separation and went on to recall how Nicki was not well received during the infancy of their bond simply because she was a serious female rapper.

When asked by Nicki, what made him decide that it was time for a female rapper, Big Fendi connected his love for female rap to what he felt the game was in need of at the time.

“I always love female rap. I grew up with the Lil Kim’s. I grew up with the Foxy’s. I grew up with the Queen Latifah’s,” said Fendi. “I was never a fan of Lauryn Hill, even though that is your…because Lauryn Hill had already went out,” he said. “But at that point, I’m like, the game could use a female and it was something no one was really searching.”

Fendi and Nicki Minaj met on Myspace in 2006, where the Queens rap star was a viral sensation. He took her on and became her marketing aide which is how she came into her present handle from Nicki Maraj and was on the verge of revamping the nostalgic persona of the female rapper.

According to Nicki, Big Fendi was always dedicated to her brand, however, she was not too fond of how he was marketing her, which lead to their separation. Since they have now publicly settled their differences, there is a chance they will work together again in the future. To what capacity exactly? They both have not hinted as of yet, but Nicki seems to be on the verge of tackling her creative roots.