Nicki Minaj had grand plans for Hot 97's Summer Jam on Sunday night, but there's some discrepancy about who was supposed to appear during her headlining set. Lauryn Hill, who surprised fans when she came out during Nas' performance, wants to set the record straight.
"No disrespect to Nicki, but I need to clear up an inaccuracy. I was not scheduled to be a special guest on her set at Summer Jam, I was invited by Nas to perform with him," Hill said in a written statement sent out via Twitter on Monday (June 4).
Last night, Nicki tweeted that before she and Lil Wayne pulled the plug on her performance, she was set to bring out Cam'ron, 2 Chainz, Nas, Hill, reggae star Beenie Man, Foxy Brown and a number of her YMCMB labelmates as surprise guests, not to mention Weezy himself. But after Hot 97 morning show host Peter Rosenberg trashed Nicki's "Starships" single in front of concertgoers, Wayne took to Twitter to announce that no artists from the YMCMB roster would be performing at Summer Jam.
Lauryn did come out and treat fans to "Ready or Not" and "Lost Ones" during Nas' own set but she felt it necessary to clear up the confusion, even expressing her support for Nicki's decision not to perform.
"I don't have details on exactly what transpired between the station and the artists, but I do support artists standing by their beliefs and walking with integrity," she wrote. "We have to find a better way to commercially exploit music while giving artists their proper respect. This cannot be done while taking their contributions for granted or trying to control the scope of their growth and power through threats and fear tactics."
The iconic hip-hop star went on to encourage industry power-brokers to do better. "We can do better than this, there is a better way, or else 'we' (the proverbial we) find ourselves in danger of being hypocrites," she added.
It was all very touching to Nicki, who in turn clarified the situation. "Thank u Lauryn. Nas was coming out on my set, u were coming out 2 perform w/him. That was within my set that was going 2 continue w/foxy," she wrote after re-tweeting Ms. Hill's statement for all of her fans to see.
On her 2009 mixtape cut "Can Anybody Hear Me?" Nicki raps about the hardships she once faced when walking into record labels where she was often compared to Lauryn Hill because she wanted to rap and sing. To be supported by one of her musical idols was touching for the Young Money star. "Coming from Lauryn it means the world. No one deserves this treatment. We're all out here working. Have respect for your guests. #thatsall," she tweeted.
Were you upset to miss Nicki's Hot 97 Summer Jam performance? Let us know in the comments.