Track Review: Sada Baby Calls up Nicki Minaj for "Whole Lotta Choppas" Remix

"It's the Queen Sleaze/Nine months motherfuckin' pregnant, like what!" And just like that, Nicki Minaj is back! Riding off the success of "Yikes," "Say So," and "TROLLZ," and just weeks removed from the birth of her first child, a baby boy, Nicki Minaj has hopped on a remix of Sada Baby's rising hit "Whole Lotta Choppas."

The eclectic breakout single from the Detroit rapper recently went viral on TikTok thanks to its catchy hook and cute dance that gained traction on the influential platform. No stranger to remixing new hits from rising rappers, she remixed Pop Smoke's "Welcome To The Party" last summer, Nicki has blessed "Whole Lotta Choppas" with her pen and her power. Recorded just days before she gave birth, Nicki's breath control in her verses is otherworldly. She rips through a series of flow switches and intonation changes without ever getting out of sync with the beat. She opens her verse with a bang: "Ooh, lil' nigga wanna try it/I told him, "Black lives matter," I'ma riot." The double entendre is so eccentric that it's quintessential Nicki. In her first verse, she proposes a play date between her son and Drake's son, Adonis, gives Giannis Antetokounmpo a shout-out, and reminds us how she is always ahead of the curve ("It's sad, Burberry plaid/You in that drip that I already had").

Structurally, she follows Sada Baby's template from the original, but still breathes new life into the beat with charisma and slick metaphors. Most importantly, Nicki seemingly drops a hint about an imminent return. Her final line on the song is "When I come out, grab Simba, it's a stampede." A reference to the iconic stampede scene in The Lion King, the line could possibly mean a return to the scene with her own music. It's been over two years since her Platinum-certified Queen album, so could another record be on the way? Regardless, it's nice to hear Nicki effortlessly make a song her own and deliver unequivocally great verses. We didn't need a reminder of her immense talent, but they're always welcome.

Score: 75