"Unreleased for a reason" — Internet reacts to Nicki Minaj playing her never-released verse on Drake and Camila Cabello's Hot Uptown

Nicki Minaj posted a preview of her unreleased verse in Hot Uptown, a Camila Cabello and Drake collaboration, on an Instagram Live session on August 20, 2024. The song was the third single from Cabello's latest album C,XOXO, released on June 28, 2024.

The video, which circulated on social media, was met with mixed reviews, with many left feeling like Nicki Minaj's verse was better left unreleased. One person tweeted:

One person commented under Buzzing Pop's tweet of Minaj's video (Image via X/BuzzingPop)

Many shared this sentiment, adding the unreleased verse sounded like garbage.

"Thank god it’s unreleased this s**t is garbage," one person tweeted.

"ns im glad it was given to drake," someone else said.

"Don’t like them I just want rap & better beats pleaseeee," another user commented.

Others were confused about how the song was released in its current version. They wondered whether Drake first approached Nicki Minaj and later replaced her with Camila Cabello.

"So Drake gave it to Nicki first but later gave it to Camila and worked with her to collab with instead??!" one person speculated.

"People sayin they’re glad it went to Camilla when the lyrics nicki wrote and rapped in this snippet are still in the song Drake is rapping them," another person said.

"That’s why Drake sang with a Jamaican accent at first before he went back to his normal voice?!?! IM SCREAMING," someone else noted.

"Okay ngl... i think i think it would've received more APPRECIATION if nicki was the feature," another netizen tweeted.

Drake featured on two songs in Camilla Cabello's C,XOXO, Hot Uptown and Uuugly. Hot Uptown debuted at No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. In a June interview with Apple's Zane Lowe, Cabello said she wanted to collaborate with the Canadian rapper as she felt the two were "musically aligned" in many ways.

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Nicki Minaj's 'Pink Friday 2 World Tour' will end in October

Nicki Minaj's 'Pink Friday 2 World Tour,' aka the Gag City Tour, will reportedly end soon, with the last show scheduled for October 11 in New York's UBS Arena. The world tour was to support her fifth solo album, Pink Friday 2.

'Pink Friday 2 World Tour' began in Oakland on March 1, 2024. The first North American leg of the tour concluded in Oklahoma City on May 13. Following this, Nicki Minaj took her tour internationally, performing across Europe and the UK from May 23 to July 14. The second North American leg is scheduled between September 6 and October 11, 2024.

Drake and Nicki Minaj are frequent collaborators, with the Canadian rapper joining her on stage during her second night in Toronto. The two rappers have recorded over 10 songs, the latest being Needle from Minaj's Pink Friday 2 album.

During her appearance on Twitch streamer Kai Cenat's live stream in December 2023, Nicki Minaj revealed Needle was originally supposed to be on Drake's 2023 album For All The Dogs. However, the Canadian rapper felt it did not suit the "sonic vibe" of his album and asked Minaj to add it to her album.

"I was like, ‘I hope something happens and it ends up being on my album,’ ’cause I like it. Then at the end, Drake, when he was about to turn in For All the Dogs, he sent me two songs," she said.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, that same day he also told me, ‘Hey, I’m not using it for the album ’cause it doesn’t fit the sonic vibe. Do you want it?’ And I was like, ‘F**k yes!’" Minaj continued.

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Nicki Minaj will perform her 'Pink Friday 2 World Tour' in Philadelphia on September 4, 2024.