Nicki Minaj has released the video for “No Frauds,” which you’ll recall was one of her three responses to Remy Ma’s fiery diss track “ShETHER” — whose accompanying art was the, ahem, memorable image of Minaj’s Barbie persona, shattered and bleeding on a bed of roses. I suppose Minaj’s trio of singles was also a response to Remy Ma’s second (and far inferior) diss track, “Another One,” in which she pondered why Nicki Minaj hadn’t responded to her first diss track. (“Waited four days, ma, where you been?/I came here in the ‘Rari playin’ Lil’ Kim”). After that second call-out, Minaj had remained silent, until it seemed like the whole thing would evaporate. Then she went ahead and released three singles — “No Frauds,” along with a lyric video, “Changed It,” and “Regret in Your Tears” — in the weeks following.
With Drake and Lil Wayne appearing on “No Frauds,” Craig Jenkins wrote for Vulture that “these aren’t just Nicki’s replies to Remy’s joust, they’re her first lead singles since the Meek [Mill] thing busted up, her official return from the Pinkprint era, and a gesture of unity from a collective we haven’t thought of as a team since Wayne and Birdman stopped seeing eye to eye.” Now, with this polished video, and another for “Regret in Your Tears” allegedly incoming any moment, it seems undebatable that a Big Return is Minaj’s intent.
As Minaj teased yesterday, the “No Frauds” video, directed by Benny Boom, was shot in London, and features her wearing elaborate, mind-boggling outfits set against, well, some London-y stuff (including the Westminster Bridge, which had initially sparked reports about potential reshoots following the lethal terrorist attack days after the filming; the concern, per Fact, was that sources said it’d be in “bad taste” to include the scenes; the reshoots apparently didn’t happen.)
Drake and Lil Wayne also show up, bringing the Young Money crew together. Minaj called it the “best video [she’s] ever released” in a recent Twitter Q&A.
Watch “No Frauds”:
Here’s a teaser Minaj shared for “Regret in Your Tears”: