A Timeline of Nicki Minaj's Fleeting Bisexuality

There's no denying Nicki Minaj is a gay icon.

Since she first broke into mainstream consciousness more than a decade ago, rumors about Nicki Minaj’s love life have persisted. She has been connected to a number of high-profile partners, including Safaree Samuels and Meek Mill, but there have also been whispers about whether or not she’s straight. Well, not so much whispers as rapped lyrics and quotes in interviews in major publications by Minaj herself that either hint that she identifies as bisexual or which outright claim that she is, in fact, sexually interested in people of the same sex.

For those who haven’t followed this years-long journey, read on to learn all about Nicki Minaj’s supposed bisexuality, and what evidence there is to support that she either is or isn’t. Then, decide for yourself what’s going on, if it matters, or whether or not it’s anyone’s business.

Photos: Shutterstock

March 2010 - “Lil Freak” Lyrics

A few weeks before Usher released his sixth album Raymond vs. Raymond, he dropped the set’s third single “Lil Freak,” featuring a then-still-rising Nicki Minaj. The tune eventually climbed to No. 40 on the Hot 100, becoming one of her earliest proper hits, and the song included a few lines rapped by Minaj that had people wondering about her sexuality.

In “Lil Freak,” Minaj performs the following lyrics:

"Excuse me, little mama, but you could say I’m on duty/I’m looking for a cutie, a real big old ghetto booty/I really like your kitty cat, and if you let me touch her/I know you’re not a bluffer, I’ll take you to go see Usher."

April 2010 - “As An Openly Bisexual Rapper…”

Just one month after “Lil Freak” got people talking about Minaj’s supposed sexuality, she added fuel to the fire in an interview with Details, which is now only recorded by other outlets discussing the piece (the magazine folded in late 2015). The journalist speaking with the rapper reportedly asked the question, “As an openly bisexual rapper, do you think hip-hop is getting more gay-friendly?” Not only did Minaj apparently not correct them (if any correcting needed to be done), but she answered it outright, saying, “I think the world is getting more gay-friendly, so hip-hop is too. But it’s harder to imagine an openly gay male rapper being embraced. People view gay men as having no street credibility. But I think we’ll see one in my lifetime.”

Elsewhere in the same piece, Minaj discusses signing the breasts of her women fans at her shows.

September 2010 - Out Magazine Interview

In another 2010 interview, this time with Out (which also no longer appears to be available online, except via excerpts), Minaj discussed her sexuality, but the writer of the article insisted that her real answer was that she wants “no labels.” 

“People who like me – they’ll listen to my music, and they’ll know who I am. I just don’t like that people want you to say what you are, who you are. I just am. I do what the fuck I want to do,” Minaj began. She went on to add, “The point is, everyone is not black and white. There are so many shades in the middle, and you’ve got to let people feel comfortable with saying what they want to say when they want to say it.”

Minaj’s comments are vague, but in the piece, the writer points out that she did discuss signing boobs (again) and even playing with her women friends, but never while others are watching. 

November 2010 - Roman

Early in her career, Minaj played up the theatricality in her music, at times even portraying different characters and using personas to speak, sing, and rap in different accents and with varied energy. One of these made-up people was Roman Zolanski, who has made appearances in a number of tunes and who is easily identifiable, as he sounds like he’s from England…sort of.

In an interview with The Guardian, Minaj explained a bit of his backstory and his purpose inside her mind, saying, "Roman's a little gay boy who lives in me. And every time I talk he sort of just appears and I tell him, 'Roman, you know, stop it, you've gone mad, I tell you, mad.' He's an outlet to say what I need to say but sometimes don't want to."

December 2010 - Rolling Stone: For Attention

Less than a year after she began stirring up rumors that she might be bisexual via her music and interviews, she squashed them, at least for the time being. Rolling Stone spoke with the rapper about the suggestions, and the magazine reported that while there was a time she was claiming not to identify as straight, she “just did that to get attention.”

“I think girls are sexy,” she told the music magazine, adding, “But I’m not going to lie and say that I date girls.”

March 20111 - “That’s Definitely Not True”

In yet another interview that appears to no longer be available in its original form on the internet (but which still exists via quotes and partial snippets reported by other outlets), Minaj was reportedly asked by Q Magazine if she was bisexual, and her response? “That’s definitely not true…”

She continued, elaborating: “I say whatever I want in my songs and just leave it at that. I guess some people are thrown off by me embracing gay culture, but I don’t feel the need to explain that.

November 2012 - “I Endorse These Strippers”

While she may have spent months telling the world she was bisexual, and then just as long correcting those claims, she reignited them once again in 2012 with the release of a new song with the suggestive title “I Endorse These Strippers.” In the track, which was featured on the oddly-named Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up (the deluxe edition of her sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, which itself borrowed part of its title from her debut album Pink Friday), she rapped these lyrics about playing with women in a sexual manner:

"I tell the hoes when they strip/That they could play with my clit/Oooh, boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs, lotta boobs/Man, I make the baddest bitches send me nudes."

October 2019 - She’s Married (To A Man)

On October 21, 2019, Minaj took to Instagram to share some exciting news from her world: she had gotten married! The rapper posted a video that showed a mug that read “Mrs.” on it next to a baseball hat with “Bride” across the front. She captioned the upload, “Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10•21•19”.

Minaj married her boyfriend Kenneth “Zoo” Petty after making their love official (at least according to social media) in December 2018. The nuptials were not without their fair share of controversy, as by the time they were married, Petty had already served time in prison for manslaughter after shooting a man to death and he was a registered sex offender in the state of New York.

May 2020 - “Say So”

In 2020, after a decade of being a star in the music industry, Minaj finally scored her first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. She joined singer and rapper Doja Cat on her global smash “Say So,” turning it from a solo endeavor to a collaboration, and her presence pushed it to the top of the charts. In the catchy cut, Minaj raps the line, “used to be bi now I'm just hetero."

With just a few lyrics, Minaj references the rumors from her past that she was bisexual, seemingly once again contradicting herself by claiming that she was, actually, bi. Of course, this is just a song, so there’s no telling if it was some sort of coming out, or simply a way to poke fun at something that happened years ago.

March 2022 - She Once Had A Girlfriend

Minaj changed her story once again in 2022, admitting that she does, in fact, “like” women and even going so far as to tell the world that she was once romantically connected to one. In an Instagram Live conversation with fellow rapper Coi Leray (which was set up to promote their joint single "Blick Blick"), the two musicians got to talking about their sexualities.

Leray asked Minaj, "Do you still like girls?," and she wasn’t afraid to open up and share a somewhat surprising answer, saying, simply, “Yes.” Minaj then went on to add something she hadn’t shared before, revealing, “So I had a boo when I was in high school and she was so so so so cute."

For her part, Leray said that she is not a lesbian, answering "No, I like d*ck” when Minaj asked the question directly. She did, however, admit that she had performed oral sex on a woman before, but that it wasn’t her thing.