In less than an hour after the released of Nicki Minaj’s latest dancehall bop, Red Ruby Da Sleeze, the song climbs to No. 1 on the U.S. iTune chart. She extends her record as the rapper with the most No. 1 songs on the chart.
The “Never Leave You (Uh ooh, Uh Oooh)” Diwali riddim sample on the track matched with Minaj’s cut throat Chun Li lyrics seems to have found favor with the Barbz (Nicki’s fans) who have streamed the song to the top spot on iTunes.
The song is also #8 in Brazil, #8 Philippines, #39 Singapore, #50 Philippines after only a few hours of its released.
“Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)” was released as the lead single from her debut album, Almost Famous, almost 20 years ago on May 12, 2003. It featured Fabolous and Busta Rhymes in the official remix and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. It topped the charts in Belgium (Flanders), Germany,Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland and had top ten positions in Austria, Belgium (Wallonia), Denmark, and the United Kingdom.
The song gave Lumidee success all over Europe and she was subsequently signed to Universal Records, Nicki Minaj’s current label.
Already the Barbz are going crazy over Red Ruby Da Sleeze calling it a “radio worthy” as Minaj set the pace to rule the summer.
Since reconnecting with her manager Fendi, Minaj has been using dancehall as part of her music roll out strategy since last summer.
She has scheduled her Queen radio on Amazon’s AMP app for 3pm PT. on Friday.
Nicki Minaj and Skeng were in New York City last August where they meeting for the first time face to face. Minaj posted a video on her instagram with instructions to go listen to their song “Likkle Miss Remix” with both the Trini and Jamaican flags.
In the viddeo Skeng was seen sporting a full Fendi suit, a brandlinked to the Hip Hop Queen. In October 14th 2019, Nicki Minaj and Fendi released a clothing collaboration called “Fendi Prints On”, a line from Nicki’s song ‘Chun Li’ from her 2018 Queen album. The clothing line consists of a female collection as well as a male collection. The full collection worth over $10M was sold out online within a week.
Skeng’s New York visit was marked by the video for their U.S. top 10 iTunes single “Likkle Miss Remix”.
During her acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs where she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, Nicki thanked a slew of people who ‘inspired her flow’ and ‘gave her huge opportunities.” Among them she thanked “Beenie Man and all of Jamaica.” After which she said “I have to thank Drizzy for always saying the things I need to hear to get me back in the game.”
Her label mate Drake has always stayed close to Jamaican culture and the artists from the island have embraced him since the beginning of his career. One of the Toronto artist’s first song Find Your Love was filmed on location in Jamaica and featured Mavado in the music video. For the intro, Drake got advice from a Rasta man about leaving a girl alone and focusing on his music and his album. He has since used the dancehall culture and artist to fuel his singles and albums. Dancehall deejay Popcaan has also been signed to his Drake’s OVO label since 2018 where he has released three albums.
