Nicki Minaj – Yikes

“Yikes” is your standard Nicki Minaj fare. That is to say the lyrics of this song center on the Queen touting her superiority. And in doing so she focuses on the most are her wealth, ability to institute violence and general lack of respect for her rivals. In fact all things considered the title of this song, which is an expression of both shock and humor, can be said to be directed at her enemies. 

But despite the thematic lack of uniqueness of this track, it still garnered considerable attention for a number of reasons. For instance, this is the first song Nicki dropped as a soloist after stating in late 2019 that she was going to retire, even if she was featured on a couple of collaborations shortly thereafter. 

She namedrops human rights icon Rosa Parks (1913-2005) in “Yikes” in a manner which ticked quite a few people off. But most importantly in relation to this song is that Minaj uses it to diss fellow rap superstar Meek Mill. Yes! The same Meek Mill whom she was famously dating not too long ago. More recently they’ve been going at it on social media, and she uses this song as a medium to further express her disdain for her former boo, even though she never mentions him forthrightly by name. 

So when all is said and done – again despite being a relatively-unspectacular song in and of itself – “Yikes” will probably go down in history as the track which served as the first shot in a lyrical beef between Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill.

Facts about “Yikes”

“Yikes” was produced by Pooh Beatz. He also wrote the song in collaboration with Nicki Minaj and songwriters Bobby L. Barrett and Derrick Milano.

And concerning the aforementioned Rosa Parks lyrics, Minaj is on record as saying that she “don’t care” if anyone is offended by her using the icon’s name the way she did.

Young Money Entertainment in conjunction with a number of labels released “Yikes”, as a single unassociated with any album, on 7 February 2020.

The on-again/off-again beef between Minaj and Mill dates back to at least mid-2017, i.e. a few months after they broke up in late 2016. However, a couple of weeks before the release of this track, it escalated to the new level as Nicki’s spouse Kenneth Petty, a known street thug in his own right, also became publicly involved in the fray. And the level of name-calling between the two main parties seems to have reached a new low.