Nicki Minaj has slammed YouTube for placing an age restriction on her latest music video. The visuals for "Likkle Miss (Remix)," her collaboration with Jamaican dancehall artist Skeng, were released on Sunday (September 25). The following day, Minaj posted a screenshot of a message from YouTube notifying her that only YouTube users with accounts over the age of 18 would be able to watch the video.
The music video, which you can watch above, is fairly boilerplate for a dancehall-rap song: lots of ass shaking and daggering. In a statement posted to Instagram, Minaj said that the video didn't contain anything that would separate it from a lot of the unrestricted content you can find on the platform. "Imagine this," she wrote. "They restricted my fucking video but have things a million fucking times worse on their BOGUS FKNG PLATFORM."
Minaj went on to insinuate that her video was being intentionally suppressed by competitors and included a reference to "Lyor," who may be Lyor Cohen of 300 Entertainment. "this is what they do to keep you from winning while doing ads for other ppl and posting FAKE FKNG STATS. the same ppl who run YouTube are in bed with a certain record label and mngmnt company. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 GO SUCK OUT YA MUDDA BIG PUM PUM. LYOR IT BETTER NOT BE YOU."
Read Nicki Minaj's statement below. The FADER has reached out to YouTube and 300 Entertainment for comment.
In a separate post, Minaj took the fight to her label and spelled out what she believes the motive is behind the age restriction. "This was done to stop us from getting a lot of views in the first 24 hours. The DUDS at my label allow ppl to use my videos all the time to promote weak shit but said we can’t buy promo for my videos."
This month, Minaj shared "Super Freaky Girl" and became the first solo female rapper since Ms. Lauryn Hill to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. She accepted the Video Vanguard Award at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on August 8.
