Meaning of “Barbie Dreams” by Nicki Minaj

“Barbie Dreams” is a song by Trinidadian-American hip hop recording artist and songwriter Nicki Minaj. The song, which uses the beat of the 1994 track “Just Playing (Dreams)” by the late American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., begins with Minaj paying a massive tribute to the late rapper.

The lyrics, which are witty and largely funny, see Minaj roasting a lot of prominent rappers, including many of her longtime collaborators and close friends. Some of the rappers roasted on this track include Drake, Meek Mill and Eminem.

Many initially reacted negatively to the song’s lyrics since they felt they disrespected and insulted the rappers mentioned. Owing to this, Minaj took no time in clearing the air. On the her radio show on Apple’s Beats 1 “Queen Radio”, Minaj said she was in no way insulting the artists mentioned in the song. According to her, she loves every single person mentioned in the song.

She later took to Twitter to stress on the fact that “Barbie Dreams” isn’t a diss track. In the tweet, she referred to the song as nothing short of “light hearted fun FUN”. Here is Minaj’s tweet regarding “Barbie Dreams”:

Who are the rappers Minaj roasts on “Barbie Dreams”?

Minaj roasts more than 10 rappers on this super hilarious track. They are as follows:

Eminem

 “Em, cop the barbie dream house then you can play the part
I ain’t tryin’ to bust it open in a trailer park”.

It is a well known fact prior to becoming famous and wealthy, rapper Eminem spent a lot of his young life in a trailer park. Minaj uses the lines above to mock Eminem.

50 Cent

 “I tried to f*** 50 for a powerful hour, but all that n***a want to do is talk Power for hours”

This line sees Minaj fantasizing about how she’d love to have an intimate affair with rapper 50 Cent.

Drake

 “Drake worth a hundred milli, always buying me sh**
But I don’t know if the p**** wet or if he’s crying and sh**”

These lines have to do with Drake’s attempts of taking his brother-sister relationship to another level. Minaj uses that to make fun of him.

Desiigner

“I remember when I used to have a crush on Special Ed
Shoutout Desiigner, ’cause he made it out of special ed”

In the lines above, Minaj is basically saying the “Panda” rapper has special educational needs.

DJ Khaled

 “Had to cancel DJ Khaled, boy, we ain’t speaking
Ain’t no fat n***a telling me what he ain’t eating”

Khaled once told the world how he would never eat a certain thing we can’t mention here. However, Minaj doesn’t believe this. According to her, Khaled is so fat he would eat everything.

Meek Mill

“Meek still be in my DMs, I be having to duck him
‘I used to pray for times like this,’ Face a** when I f*** him”

Minaj and rapper Meek Mill were once lovers. However, in 2015, their relationship came to an end. In the lyrics, she claims he still wants her despite the fact that she and him are no longer an item.

Young Thug

“Used to f*** with Young Thug, I ain’t addressing this sh*t
I caught him in my dressing rooms stealing dresses and sh*t”

Young Thug has collaborated with Minaj on many a track over the years. On this track, Minaj mocks Thug’s queer fashion sense. In 2015, Young Thug surprised fans by saying that 90% of the clothes in his closet are women’s clothing. In the last line above, Minaj accuses him of stealing dresses from her dressing room.

Lil Uzi Vert

“Man, Uzi is my baby, he ain’t takin’ an L
But he took it literally when I said “go to hell”

Rapper Lil Uzi Vert is very close to Minaj. Honestly, we don’t really get what she’s saying here, but it is apparent she’s roasting the heck out of him.

Tekashi 6ix9ine

“Teskashi wanna menage I said tre-way, curved him and went the Kim and Kanye-way”

Everyone who knows rapper 6ix9ine knows that in 2015, he was accused of abusing an underage girl. Minaj uses his predicament to mock him in the line above. A few weeks before the release of this track, Minaj had collaborated with 6ix9ine on the hit single “Fefe”. This clearly means there is no bad blood between them.

YG/the Game

“YG and the Game with the hammer yelling, ‘gang gang’
This ain’t what I meant when I said a gang b***”

Minaj mocks rappers YG and the Game for their apparent memberships of The Bloods – a street gang from Los Angeles, California.

She roasts other celebrities

In addition to the above-mentioned rappers, Minaj also roasts American footballer Odell Beckham Jr. and American model and actress Karrueche Tran in this track. Here is what Minaj had to say about Odell and Karrueche.

Odell Beckham Jr.

“And I would’ve had that Odell Beckham banging the cake
‘Til I saw him hopping out of cars dancing to Drake”

She mocks Odell’s dancing to the viral dance challenge #InMyFeelingsChallenge that was sparked by Drake’s 2018 smash hit song “In My Feelings“.

Karrueche

“Somebody go and make sure Karrueche okay though
I heard she think I’m tryna give the c*****e to Quavo”

Prior to the release of “Barbie Dreams”, there were several rumors that Minaj and rapper Quavo were dating. Minaj uses those rumors to make fun of Karrueche (who also once dated Quavo).

Facts about “Barbie Dreams”

• The song was written by Nicki Minaj and three other songwriters. These songwriters are: American record producer Rashad Smith and the American music production duo Mel & Mus (Melvin Hough II and Rivelino Raoul Wouter).
• According to Minaj, she was inspired to pen the “witty and funny” bars on “Barbie Dreams” by rappers Eminem and The Notorious B.I.G.
• “Barbie Dreams” was produced by its co-writers: Mel & Mus and Rashad Smith.
• “Barbie Dreams” came out on August 10, 2018. It is the third track from Nicki Minaj’s fourth studio album titled Queen.

Does “Barbie Dreams” sample any song(s)?

Yes, it does. This track heavily samples The Notorious B.I.G.’s 1994 track “Just Playing (Dreams)”, which in itself samples the songs “Real Love” and “Blues and Pants” by Mary J. Blige and James Brown respectively.