Kanye West has a lot to answer for in his life, but one of his most dastardly decisions is the one that has kept us away from a truly masterful Nicki Minaj verse. His song “New Body,†featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj, was supposed to be on Yandhi and has been going around as a leak since July 2019. Uploads of the whole song have a few hundred thousand views each, but a Barb re-upload of just Minaj’s verse has over 2 million views on YouTube. So sorry to the rest of that song, but with an emerging trend on TikTok, Minaj’s verse is going solo.
“New Body†has become the soundtrack to transformations on the app. People go from natural to glam, from an Afro to faux locks, from girl-next-door to e-girl, all while lip-syncing to Minaj. “Hey yo, you ain’t fuck me, you fucked the old body,†she raps about the new and improved her. “You ain’t fuck Nicki, you fucked Nicole body / Ain’t no miles on this here new body / Off with their heads, these bitches is nobodies.†With every new bar, you inch closer and closer to the new you until the final line: “Old nigga hit me and I said, ‘New body, who dis?’†You don’t even need the rest of the lyrics to know this is a uniquely Nicki Minaj, multilayered rap. Like, she went so hard and for what, Kanye?
As always, the baddies of the world (not all baddies are Barbz, but all Barbz are baddies) have to be the ones to uplift Minaj. In one TikTok with the since-copyright struck sound (uploaded by makeup artist @cfknlsss), 17-year-old Lia Alvarez raps us through her flawless silk press. It’s earned over 7 million views since being uploaded May 29. An 18-year-old queen from New Jersey documented her nose job recovery with each bar of the rap, writing “hey yo nose job check†in the caption. (Be forewarned — you will lose hours to nose job TikTok.) That has over 6.9 million views in just three days. One TikTok that went viral on Twitter highlights an unclockable wig, in true Nicki Minaj fashion. Once again, TikTok is displaying taste. Minaj’s fans are ravenous for the song, constantly tweeting about it. On June 24, Minaj seemed over the mentions and tweeted, then deleted “Light up KIM comments everyday if you want NB†with a shrug emoji. With Kanye West distracted, the Barbz’s tweets are getting more desperate. From Twitter to TikTok to YouTube, the people want “New Body†not new Kanye.