Nicki Minaj has proven to be both a hip-hop and pop threat, but her versatility doesn't stop there. Through the years, the Trinidad-born hitmaker has dabbled in dancehall, showing off her Caribbean swag, making her most recent splash with labelmate Busta Rhymes on the remix to his new reggae-drenched single, "Twerk It."
The Dungeon Dragon first released his Pharrell-produced island thump last month, and Thursday night, he gave the track new life by adding the queen of Queens, New York. This time out, rather than employing her alter-ego Roman or her sometimes London accent, Nicki leans on her West Indian roots and lets loose a deep Patois. "Dutty gal, when ya see mi and what yu fi do/ Bow down, big chain and it heavy too," she raps in a slow and measured pace.
Keeping with the vibe, Nicki goes on to shout out dancehall influencers like Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, before repping for her birthplace, spitting: "Trinidad an no Jame$ mi no chat 'bout."
Busta Rhymes, who is Jamaican-American, has always dabbled in reggae. On his 2009 album, Back On My B.S., he and Pharrell created a similar vibe with "Kill Dem."
This isn't the first time Nicki has embraced dancehall, either. Back in 2010, she hopped on a remix of Jamaican reggae singer Gyptian's hit "Hold You," and earlier this year, she contributed to French Montana's Lil Vicious-sampling single "Freaks." Though Montana's single is technically a rap song, Nicki's verse was drenched with island slang. "I feel like this song brings back the essence of the dancehall,"
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