Skeng Joins Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne Back Stage At Rolling Loud California
Street Cred deejay Skeng posed with Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne backstage at Rolling Loud California, following the rappers’ performance at Rolling Loud California on Saturday night.
The Jamaican entertainer, who has been in California since last week with producer Rowan “Drop Top” Melhado, is reportedly one of several artists signed to Minaj’s new imprint at Republic Records, but this is not yet confirmed.
“I have a record label now,” Minaj revealed on the Friday (March 3) episode of Queen Radio on Amazon Music’s AMP. “When I get behind an artist, y’all know how I do sh-t for people that’s not even signed to me. Imagine what I’ma do for the ones that’s signed.”
She added, “Don’t think my label is just rap, or Black, or anything. We got some other genres of music.”
On Friday, the Trinidadian rap star also hailed Lil Wayne for the hand he has had in her early career, and for inspiring her to really get behind new the unnamed label’s first batch of artists, which reportedly includes Nana Fofie, Tate Kobang, Rico Danna, and London Hill, according to Billboard.
“When I came in this game, I didn’t have no paperwork with Lil Wayne, but he had us on tour, he had us in a studio, he was getting on my mixtapes,” she said.
“So I understand the importance of having somebody else doing the heavy lifting for you. I understand why people are coming out and they’re so, you know, microwaveable and they’re here today and gone tomorrow, because there’s no structure. There’s no real person that believes in them. That’s like, ‘Nah, I’m gonna make it my business to see you shine.’”
Minaj’s longtime affiliate Patty Lauren (Patty Duke) will serve in an A&R role at the new label.
In June 2022, Skeng and his producers John Coop & Shacko Di Truth, signed a deal with Jon Baker’s Geejam Music, which is headquartered in Jamaica.
Since then, Skeng and Minaj developed a bond, which resulted in a remix of Likkle Miss, produced by Drop Top and DiTruth. The remix earned Skeng his first Billboard entries.
Continuing the momentum, the Super Bass rapper hailed the young Jamaican artist as one of her inspirations during an interview with actress and talk show host Jada Pinkett-Smith for Interview Magazine back in October 2022.
“Of course, there are always people out there inspiring me. Let’s see. Do you want to know what’s so funny? This might be very odd, but I just stumbled upon this guy, his name is Skeng. One day I’m on TikTok and I heard this song and I went on YouTube to listen to it more, and I ended up going to song after song from this guy. I already love dancehall, but it’s been a minute since a new male dancehall artist stood out to me,” she said at the time.
She further said that the deejay’s authenticity and ‘unorthodox’ trends made her more drawn to him.
“What inspired me was he isn’t trying to be like anyone. I loved how freaking raw it was. And his sound was just so different. People may not know him yet but they will.”
The two were recently parading in Trinidad for its annual carnival celebrations. Minaj also sampled the iconic Diwali Riddim for her latest single Red Ruby Da Sleeze, which also premiered on Friday.
She previously sampled the Filthy Riddim for her 2019 song MEGATRON, and the Unfinished Business Riddim for her 2018 song Coco Chanel with Foxy Brown.