Nicki Minaj can do it all. She’s a mother, an iconic rapper, an actress, and a businesswoman. Earlier this year, the Queen officially announced that she was starting her own record label. There wasn’t much news about it afterward, except for rumors here and there that she had signed Ice Spice. A few weeks ago, Nicki and Ice Spice released a collaboration called “Princess Diana.” It was originally a single from Ice Spice’s 2022 EP, but Nicki had been rumored to jump on it for a while. When it was released, fans noticed that “Heavy On It” was listed among the labels that distributed the collab. In addition, Nicki says the alleged label name at the beginning of the song. While she has yet to officially confirm the name, she did give a cheeky reply to one fan on Twitter who pointed it out.
Nicki Minaj also recently claimed in a tweet that she would be seated beside Prince Harry at King Charles’ coronation ceremony. The Queen has a reputation for trolling, and it now appears to have just been a promotional tactic for her new verse on the “Princess Diana” remix. The song was released two weeks ago, and it has been all over the place ever since. In fact, earlier this week, it landed at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. This was another big win for the Queen, who broke Drake’s previous Billboard record with the track. It was also a win for Ice Spice, who now has two singles in the top 10. Now, Nicki is taking some much-deserved family time.
Nicki Minaj may be the Queen of Rap, but today she reminded fans that she’s also a mom. Originally, she announced that she was retiring from music in order to focus on family. While that didn’t turn out to be exactly true, she certainly has built a beautiful family over the last few years. In July 2020, Nicki shared a photo of her baby bump on her Instagram, confirming news that fans had already suspected: she was pregnant. Later that year, she gave birth to a baby boy, whom she affectionately refers to as “Papa Bear.” The rapper doesn’t always post family-related photos, but earlier today she shared a look into her life as a mother.
In the adorable photos that Nicki posted, her son can be seen dressed in stylish outfits. “Papa Bear” is all smiles as his mother takes photos of him while he eats and plays. The Barbz took to the comment section of the post to share their love, most of them simply posting heart emojis. Nicki recently revealed that her new follow-up album to 2018’s Queen will be coming this year. So, she is likely enjoying some downtime before things get crazy again.
NEWS
Music photographer Jill Furmanovsky said she wasn’t taken aback by the overwhelming excitement surrounding the Oasis reunion tour.
The photographer has been capturing the Wonderwall hitmakers for more than thirty years and shared that the Oasis Live '25 Tour, which brought Noel and Liam Gallagher back on stage together for the first time in 16 years, worked so well because the concerts have always been “about the audience”.
Jill, who first crossed paths with Oasis at one of their early shows at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1994, explained to NME: “It didn’t catch us off guard, because Oasis have always been about the crowd. Always. There was never much to shoot on stage.
“Even at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, the performance itself was simple, but the people in the crowd knew every word and were completely swept up in it.
“And that hasn’t really changed over time. They just bring out that songbook and deliver it. Liam is still magnetic and captivating, even when he keeps it minimal. It remains incredibly powerful. That’s the essence of their show.”
Furmanovsky, who has photographed icons like Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin over the course of her fifty-year career, added: “What they’ve done with this new tour, the production, and the visuals… it’s something special.
“The mix of generations in the crowd is also striking. I went with my 13-year-old granddaughter, and there were plenty of kids her age singing along word for word. It’s incredible.
“‘Biblical’ is the term people throw around. It sounds almost silly, but when two brothers who’ve been at odds for years come together again, there really is something biblical about that alone. Combine it with what they’re putting on stage… it’s unlike anything else.”
Jill’s latest book Trying To Find A Way Out Of Nowhere reflects her years documenting Oasis, and she shared that no current act matches what the Supersonic band represents. She was also able to photograph them once again at one of their massive Wembley Stadium shows during the reunion tour.
She said: “There aren’t many artists today who can step into the space Oasis occupies and actually live up to it.
“We’re in a different time now, a kind of in-between phase. It feels like the closing of a rock ‘n’ roll chapter. That doesn’t mean talent or creativity is gone. It’s like with painting — we still have great impressionists, but we’re no longer living in the impressionist era.”
