Nicki Minaj recently announced a fan contest to curate songs for the deluxe edition of Pink Friday 2.
However, she encountered criticism from Billboard due to her request for proof of purchase of all album versions, which put her at risk of losing potential sales.
“Been discussing my 100 barbz contest for months,” she wrote. “They said billboard reached out to say they gon take away sales for me telling y’all about the 100 barbz thing. Can’t wait until these next 6 hours are up so I can tell y’all some sh*t. You can give out millions in cashapp money tho. Lol. So barbz, me asking you to show PROOF of something that was already DELIVERED OR PURCHASED IS AGAINST THE RULES. SO pls disregard. Apologies.”
Minaj urged fans to refrain from buying or streaming her album, accusing Billboard and other companies of attempting to “bring her down.”
Without naming any names, she pointed out the disparity, stating that other artists conducted similar contests without repercussions, emphasizing that she was being targeted.
“They changed all those other rules specifically for me yet their own ‘ppl’ are the ones suffering from it & will CONTINUE to,” she said in a follow-up Tweet. “I don’t need any validation. Album is phenomenal & my fans as well as others love it. But they’re soooooooooo angry they couldn’t stop me.”
On X, TheJuicePop echoed those claims and said that Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion were able to give away millions of dollars to fans to help purchase the song and suffered no penalty, but when Nicki asked for receipts, which were purchased by fans, she was penalized. However, the account quickly corrected its claims, acknowledging the fact that Cardi & Meg’s “WAP” giveaway was launched after the song’s first week and did not require purchase.
Despite the controversy, Nicki remains undeterred, expressing that she isn’t concerned about album sales.
“Threatening me…like what? Huh?” she wrote. “You don’t scare me. Take away all the sales y’all want. I’ve never not ended up feeling sorry for my enemies. Read that line again. God is in control.”
