In a recent interview with W Magazine, Nigerian musician Davido revealed that American rapper Nicki Minaj charges $500,000 per verse on a song.
Davido however revealed that Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty as she’s known in real life recorded a song with him for free.Narraring how it all happened, David Adeleke said he finished a concert in the capital city of Nigeria, Abuja, and was drinking at his after party. “I was like, ‘Yo, I swear to god, I’ll DM Nicki right now,’” Davido cackles. “I woke up the next morning and I forgot that I had messaged her the night before. I was like, ‘Oh shit, I was drunk.’”
But Minaj urged him to send her the song, then delivered her verse back to him the next day.
“Nothing was really planned on this album,” he says, noting that “Nicki be charging people $500,000 for verses. And she did it for me for free.”
That might be a testament to Davido’s newfound fame stateside—or it might have simply been a case of Nicki liking the beat the Nigerian musician sent along. Either way, Davido is feeling himself, and ready to drop A Better Time in whatever finalized form it ends up taking.
“I represent a whole culture,” he says. “I represent a whole continent. You know what I’m saying? I can’t let them down.”
