How Much Bahati Could Have Paid For Collabo With Nicki Minaj

Kenyan musician cum politician Kevin Bahati Kioko announced on Saturday, December 3 that he was working on a song with 39-year-old American rapper, Nicki Minaj.

While sharing the news on his Instagram account, the former Mathare parliamentary aspirant disclosed that the two would drop a song in 2023.

"2023 Bahati X Nicki Minaj Confirmed," he wrote.

This however divided his fanbase with one part accusing him of typically releasing fake news to generate clout and garner attention while the other believed that he was speaking the truth given the recent collaborations he has embarked on with different stars.

Screenshot of Bahati announcing collabo with Nicki Minaj on December 3, 2022. /INSTAGRAM.BAHATI KENYA

With that in mind, Viral Tea takes a look at how much Nicki, real name Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, charges for collaboration songs.

The Chun-Li hitmaker has a long track record of delivering worthwhile guest verses and given her collaborations with several global music stars, her rates do not come that cheap.

In 2014’s My Nigga (Remix), Nicki mentioned that she “just got 250 thousand for a verse.” But according to Nicki’s collaborator Davido in 2020, she was charging Ksh61.35 million (US$500,000) for verses.

"I was coming from a club when I sent Nicki Minaj a DM telling her that I wanted us to work on something. 

"I told her that the song was going to be a hit song, that it was gonna be a number one. When I woke up I saw she had responded to my DM," he revealed during an interview on Power 106.

A Nicki Minaj verse however has the potential to boost the sales and reputation of the artist she teams up with. Doja Cat, for example, has been building popularity for years, but recruiting Nicki Minaj for the Say So (Remix) helped catapult her into a whole new league.

Together, they made history by scoring a number 1 hit and becoming the first two female rappers to top the Billboard Hot 100 together.

A Nicki Minaj feature does more than just translate to chart stats. She has also been known to draw critical attention to a record.

Sada Baby’s Whole Lotta Choppas was a successful song, but the remix, which was released in October 2020, helped push the record to even more buzzy critical acclaim.

The track didn’t break into the top 20 on the charts, but it did find a place in a number of year-end lists. From “Monster” to “Bottoms Up” to “Say So (Remix),” Nicki Minaj’s presence on a track will often bring it to new heights.

Nicki is set to release her fifth studio album which is expected to take her back to her Hip Hop roots.

“I feel like whenever I’m happy, I deliver the best music. And in order for me to deliver the best music for my album – which is coming out soon – I have to tap back into the essence of Hip Hop,” she told City Girls rapper JT for i-D.

Her last solo effort came with 2018’s Queen, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 185,000 album-equivalent units, of which 78,000 came from pure album sales.

Nicki Minaj during a past music video shoot. /INSTAGRAM.NICKI MINAJ