The Boys

Album: Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • The first single from the re-release of Nicki Minaj's second studio album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up was debuted on the September 13, 2012 edition of On-Air with Ryan Seacrest. The bass-heavy track was released to the iTunes Store the same day.
  • Minaj enlisted singer Cassie to croon the song's hook. "You get high, love a bunch of girls and then cry on top of the world," she coos. "I hope you have the time of your life. I hope I don't lose it tonight." The New London, Connecticut born songstress is best known for her 2006 hit single "Me & U."
  • Minaj references Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta cast member Stevie J, when she raps in the voice of Puerto Rican rapper/singer Joseline Hernandez, "Did you ever really love me, Stebie?" Producer and songwriter Stevie J is shown in the reality show being involved in a love/work triangle between his then girlfriend, Mimi Faust, and Hernandez.
  • Cassie told MTV News that Minaj and her had been trying to get together for a long time. "We did a record together I want to say maybe two-and-a-half years before this, and it obviously didn't get any play. It was for my album, which I've been working on for years," she explained with a laugh. "It was kind of long overdue; we had been talking about it for a while, so it was nice to get together and finally do something, and to also have a visual to it."
  • The song's candy-colored music video was directed by Colin Tilley who also shot the clip for "I Am Your Leader". The visual was filmed for two days; one for Cassie's shoot, the other for Minaj's. "The concept of the video was definitely a collaboration," explained Cassie to MTV News. I've known Colin Tilley for a really long time, but I hadn't got to work with him yet, so this was our first time. He really wants to hear the artists' input and wants to know what we want to do to make the video great. So he came to us with the treatment of us being in a Barbie world, and I wanted to put my little flavor on it, so I was like, 'What if I was Ken?' So Nicki loved the idea, and that's where that stemmed from."

    The pink and white polka-dot room sequence gave Minaj and Cassie an opportunity to do their thing. "That pink room was a ball because it was two cameras," explained Cassie. "The both of us, we shot separately and together, and we just got to move around the whole room, so it gave us a lot of freedom, and I think it's really cute."

    It was Tilley who came up with the final sequence where we see Minaj rapping in a beauty salon that's up in flames. "I believe Colin came up with that idea because there had to be some sort of ending to the story," Cassie explained. "[Nicki's] taking over, she's re-upping, she's re-loading, so that was just Colin's off-the-wall concept."

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