Hip Hop

Nicki Minaj Reconnects With Old Manager Big Fendi, Discuss Label & New Album

Nicki Minaj and Big Fendi

Nicki Minaj and Big Fendi have put their differences aside and are chatting for the first time.

Coronavirus keeping everyone in lockdown and having time to think means that many people are patching up their old feuds and making amends with people they haven’t spoken to for years. That “Yikes” rapper and her former manager too. Big Fendi gave Nicki Minaj her big break back in 2007 when he signed the young artist to his label, Dirty Money Entertainment, on a 180-day contract. In fact, it was Fendi who decided that “Nicki Minaj” was a better stage name than her real last name, “Maraj.”

The pair fell out last year when the Queen of the Barbz went off on Fendi on her Queen Radio show. “The mistake you made was that you thought I was some brainless h** that you was going to tell what to do,” she said of the music producer. But nine months is a long time and the former working partners have each had time to simmer down and get over their anger. And so, Nicki Minaj appeared on Fendi’s podcast, That’s a Fendi Morning Show, where the two had a conversation for the first time since 2008 with Fendi saying that when “moving on in life and trying to prosper, you can’t hold no grudges.”

Fendi revealed his biggest gripe to be that he doesn’t feel he received enough credit for discovering the superstar. “I felt like I started something,” he said. “At the end of the day, I felt like you didn’t give me my credit.” In response, Nicki praised her former manager, despite their issues in the past. “Fendi may not think that I gave him credit, but he definitely deserves all the credit,” she said. “This man put in so much work, time, effort, energy, and genuine love and belief in me, and I will never forget that. And that’s why at this place, where I am in now, I want to be of help to him in any way that I can.

Nicki Minaj noted that she’s now able to find a balance between being herself and giving her fans what they want. “On the album that we’re working on now, I feel like I’m finding a great balance,” Nicki said.

Good on them both.