Nicki Minaj is in the midst of the rollout for her upcoming album The Pink Print, the latest reveal being a new record titled "Chi-Raq", which she dropped in the early hours of yesterday morning. The track includes a guest appearance from emerging Chicagoan rapper Lil Herb, AKA G-Herb, with production from Boi-1da, Vinyls, and Allen Ritter.
Complex recently caught up with Herb for a brief interview, during which he discussed how the feature came about. Read excerpts from the Q&A and listen to the track below. Otherwise, stay tuned for more new material - at the end of "Chi-Raq" Nicki utters: "I've always got a trick up my sleeve. I might give you a new trick every week until this album drops ... I dunno, I figured they wanted some more."
How did she first reach out to you?
She reached out to me on my own. SB [Safaree], he called. Her assistant. It just went from there. We didn't know how serious it was at first until - they tried to fly us out the same day they spoke with us.
Did you fly out that day?
Nah, we flew out maybe a week later. They said I was actually the hardest person for them to get in contact with, almost.
When did they reach out?
Maybe a week and a half ago.
Did she tell you how she first heard your music?
She didn't tell me really how she first heard it. But she told me she was always familiar with it. That the song best fit me, so that's why she decided to put me on it. It was my flow she was using, from "Kill Shit," so she thought it was best for me to get on the track.
Do you know if this is going to be on her album?
Yeah, she said she was going to put it on the album.
What was it like in the studio?
It was real good. She's cool. We had a good time, it was just work and fun. All work and fun at the same time. Down to earth. Real normal, natural girl. Cool and helpful. We was laughing, she had suggestions on shit. She was real cool, you know. Somebody I could be around.
How many songs did you guys do together?
Just that one. We might work [again] in the near future.
I saw she tweeted you out too. Did you get a whole bunch of new Twitter followers?
Almost 20,000 [more] followers already. I went from like 50k to like 68k.
How long did it take to do your verse?
We was actually in the studio together the whole day. But to record it probably took a few hours. To finish it, write it, make sure it was all good. Have it perfect? Maybe three hours, four hours tops.
There were people who thought it was a bad idea for Nicki - since she's not from Chicago - to call a song Chiraq. What do you think about that?
I don't even really pay attention to it. I don't think it was a bad idea or a bad anything. I mean, she reached out to me, to put me on the song. She's rapping about shit that's going on in Chicago. That's what I rap about. That's what I'm known for. That's what she reached out to me for. So why would we rap about flowers and heart shapes?
Lil Herb Discusses Collaborating With Nicki Minaj For Her New Track "Chi-Raq"
