Here, another upstart New York rapper riffs on Minaj's 'Lil Freak' verse: 'Go Nicki Minaj flow when I hit the verse-uh/ If you let me ménage/ I'll take you to see Ursher,' raps A$AP Rocky. Raymond, an album recorded on the heels of a divorce, Usher felt uncharacteristically flat and aimless.įast-forward two years, to the closing track of Usher's new LP, Looking 4 Myself. For over a decade, Usher had a remarkable run of slow-burning R&B singles and clattering club hits like 2001's 'U Remind Me' and 'U Got It Bad', 2004's 'Confessions Part II' and Lil Jon crunk-anthem collaboration 'Yeah!'. Given the weakness of the record as a whole, you had to wonder if we were witnessing a fading star content to go through the motions.

On his own song, Usher himself was pushed to the sideline by an artist on the fast track to superstardom. like Santa I keep a vixen' before reeling off the names of all seven reindeer at a cadence that seemed inhuman. On the single 'Lil Freak', cut in the early stages of her tear as an unassailable feature rapper, Minaj delivered one of the more remarkable verses of that year, rapping that she'd take girls 'to go see Usher. Raymond wasn't particularly memorable, but it did provide a platform for an up-and-coming rapper named Nicki Minaj.

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