As was well-documented earlier this week, Nicki Minaj recently surprised fans with an in-studio clip of a new song tentatively titled "Yikes." While this occurrence's apparent impact on Minaj's previous talk of retirement is worth a headline on its own, it was the lyrical content of the clip—specifically, a line mentioning Rosa Parks—that became the story.
The lyric in question—"All you bitches Rosa Parks, uh-oh, get your ass up"—received criticism from some due to the fact that Tuesday marked what would have been the civil rights activist's 107th birthday. While some also defended the line, pointing out similarly attention-grabby lyrics from Minaj's catalog and the catalog of other artists, the controversy narrative persisted.
Now, per a sources-citing report from TMZ, it's being alleged that Minaj didn't intentionally time the lyric to have arrived amid talks of Parks' birthday.
Sources "connected to" Minaj said Wednesday that the Queen artist is aware of the blowback the lyric has received from some, noting that she didn't "in any way" pen the line in an effort to diss Parks. "It was a coincidence and in hindsight . . . we're told maybe bad timing," the report adds in reference to the 107th birthday nearness.
As for the music, the most recent example of new Minaj arrived last week in the form of a Meghan Trainor guest feature.
