Five years ago, rapper and pop star Nicki Minaj practically re-invented the late night talk show interview when she sailed on The Late Show to promote her latest album at the time, Queen, and promptly had both Stephen Colbert and his audience in hysterics when she came up with these flirty bars off the cuff: “I might fuck Stephen after the show / he gonna come back to work with a magical glow / but when you see us please, motherfucker, don’t stare / just address me as Queen Nicki Colbert.”
On Wednesday night, Minaj returned to the program for the first time since that iconic 2018 appearance to seduce Colbert once again under the guise of promoting Pink Friday 2. And the pair’s unexpected chemistry was just as hilariously evident as it was half a decade ago.
When Colbert showed Minaj a picture of himself photoshopped into Gag City, the pink-hued universe she created for her new LP, she replied, “that’s the most handsome man on TV in Gag City.”
Then, of course, there was a follow-up rap demonstration. Minaj changed the first two lines from her song “FTCU (Fuck the Club Up)” for a ditty she called “Fuck the Colbert Up.”
“High heels on for Stevie / If I marry Stevie he ain’t never gon’ leave me,” she rapped, then repeated it, leaving the ending open for Colbert to complete the verse. “High heels or not, Nicki / You better hope you never meet my wife Evie,” Colbert rapped back.
Gag City, indeed.
The two also talked parenting, and favorite Christmas carols—Minaj said her preferred yuletide jam was “Jingle Balls,” to which Colbert replied that he wasn’t familiar—and Minaj made sure the host and Evie were coming to one of her upcoming shows.
“I have to keep you two apart to make sure that you don’t get into it,” Colbert joked.
But Minaj had a solution: “No, that’s not true, because you know that show with the people that have all the wives?” Ridiculous and delightful as usual.