Nicki Minaj has slammed the Grammys for putting her August single ‘Super Freaky Girl’ in the Best Pop Solo Performance category for the 2023 awards.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Minaj originally submitted the song for rap categories, but the Recording Academy’s rap committee decided to reclass it in the pop awards categories.
In an Instagram Live that has since been posted to her feed, Minaj clapped back at the decision, saying: “‘Super Freaky Girl,’ where I only rapped on the song, was removed out of the rap categories at the Grammys and put in pop.”
“[Drake’s] ‘Hotline Bling’ won Best Rap Song and Best Rap Sung [Performance],” she said— referencing the 2016 single that the artist himself said had no place in the rap category — with Drake saying at the time: “I’m a black artist, I’m apparently a rapper, even though ‘Hotline Bling‘ is not a rap song.”
“Now, let’s say that ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is a pop song,” Minaj continued. “Let’s just say that. What is [Latto’s] ‘Big Energy’? … If you move ‘Super Freaky Girl’ out of rap and put it in pop, do the same thing for ‘Big Energy.’ Same producers on both songs, by the way. So let’s keep shit fair. Even when I’m rapping on a pop track, I still out-rap.”
Minaj’s ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is currently on its eighth week at the top of Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart. The single — which samples Rick James‘ ‘Super Freak’ — debuted at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, making Minaj the first solo female rapper since 1998 to achieve the feat.
It’s not the first time Minaj has criticised the Grammys, tweeting in 2020: “Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”
The submissions for next year’s awards are in, with voting now underway. Notable entries include Taylor Swift‘s ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ in the Album of the Year and Best Country Album categories, eight years after her original ‘Red’ album lost both categories at the awards.
Beyoncé has entered her first ever dance/electronic submissions, with ‘Renaissance’ up for Album of the Year and Best Dance/Electronic Album of the year, and ‘Break My Soul’ in the Song of the Year, Recording of the Year and Best Dance/Electronic Recording categories.
Neither Drake nor The Weeknd have submitted entries, nor have Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak‘s Silk Sonic project.