Last month, T-Pain posted a video to TikTok apologizing to all the stars he’d accidentally ghosted by not checking his Instagram DM request folder, saying he had no idea that verified accounts were also sorted into requests. It seems he knows how it feels to be metaphorically “left on read,” revealing on the 85 South Show that he’d once been on the receiving end when he reached out to Nicki Minaj to collaborate early in the Queens, New York star’s career.
T-Pain recalled that in 2007, he’d reached out to collaborate, but eventually got curved by Nicki, who was busy working on her breakout tape, Beam Me Up Scotty.”We was about to work together and she stopped responding and I was like, ‘Nick, let me know what’s going on,’” he said. “She was like, ‘Hey, I’m an artist too and I’m working on my shit so ya know. Baby, chill.’ And I was like, ‘Oh… My heart.’”
When a clip of the interview made its way onto Shade Room’s account, Nicki couldn’t help responding in the comments. “I don’t remember this AT ALL but it DEF sound like smthn I would say,” she admitted. “Omg what was I thinking? He was already a rlly big artist. I was still underground. Chileeee I used to b buggin yo. My bad babe, all love. I have nthn but respect for your talent and thank you & Kanye for clearing ‘Go Hard’ for Beam Me Up Scotty last month.”
When Beam Me Up Scotty finally did hit DSPs last month, it marked a watershed moment for Nicki, bringing her full circle with her Young Money compatriots Lil Wayne and Drake on “Seeing Green.” Meanwhile, T-Pain used the attention from his TikTok video to debut his new single with Kehlani, “I Like Dat.”