Nicki Minaj had an undeniably big 2011, and her 2012 might be even bigger. Two months into the new year and she has already had some huge looks. Besides performing alongside Madonna and MIA at the Super Bowl, who could forget her controversial performance at the Grammys? Plus her single "Starships" is already No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. All this is just a warm-up to her sophomore effort, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
Last week, Barbie dropped the single “Roman Reloaded” featuring Lil Wayne. One thing you'll notice about the song right away: It knocks. That’s the work of young Rico Beats, best known for producing Soulja Boy’s “Mean Mug.” We got a hold of the talented Brooklyn beat maker, and he told us all about how he and Nicki got together, and even dished about his work on new projects from Pusha T and Jadakiss. Find out why Rico Beats is poised for a big 2012 himself...
As told to Julian Pereira (@Broadway_Jay)
On Producing Nicki Minaj’s “Roman Reloaded”
“Nicki’s assistant Safaree and I are both from Brooklyn. I’ve known him since back in the day, and we’ve always had a relationship. We hung out with the same crowd, and we kept in touch when I started making beats.
Working on Pusha T’s next album
“For the last month, me, Pusha, and The-Dream have been gooning in Miami. We’ve been in the studio 24/7. I have so much new respect for The-Dream. I didn’t know he was that dope, until we started working. He’s amazing and the stuff he has on the album is crazy.
The future
“I’ve got two crazy records on Jada’s next album. One of them is featuring Jeezy. The shit Jeezy’s spitting on that is like that old Jeezy. He’s spitting that TM 101 shit. The other record has a feature that’s going to surprise a lot of people, but I can’t speak on it. It’s going down.
