Nicki Minaj – “Sorry” (Feat. Nas)
A couple of weeks ago, before the release of her new album Queen, Nicki Minaj took to Twitter to publicly ask Tracy Chapman to clear a sample. “So there’s a record on #Queen that features 1of the greatest rappers of all time,” she wrote in the since-deleted tweets. “Had no clue it sampled the legend #TracyChapman — do I keep my date & lose the record? Or do I lose the record & keep my date? ♀️ do we push #Queen back 1week? Ugh! I’m torn, y’all help. Tracy Chapman, can you please hit me. ♀️ omg for the love of #Queen”
The record did end up getting pushed back for a second time, although it’s unclear if the delay was because of the Tracy Chapman sample clearance issues or not. And when Queen did finally come out this week, there was no Tracy Chapman song to be found. But now Nicki has gone and shared it anyway, separately from the rest of the album.
Funkmaster Flex debuted “Sorry” on his Hot 97 radio show last night. The song borrows heavily from Shelly Thunder’s “Sorry,” which is itself an interpolation of Tracy Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You,” and the big rapper it features is none other than Nas, who recently released his Kanye West-produced album Nasir. “Sis said no ♀️,” Nicki Minaj wrote in a since-deleted tweet shortly after the drop, seemingly referring to Chapman. Listen below.