Nicki Minaj is on the Grammy Awards ballot in rap categories - but not for 'Super Freaky Girl'

The fact that Nicki Minaj's "Super Freaky Girl" was moved from the Grammys rap categories to the pop split on a preliminary ballot nearly resulted in an international incident, given the publicity and controversy that ensued as voting began this week. It certainly culminated in the most visible hip-hop feud of the year, with a fiery war of words between Minaj and Latto, whose "Big Energy" remained a rap contender and didn't return to pop. .

But lost in the middle of it all - or hitherto unreported, anyway - is the fact that Minaj is, in fact, on the ballot in the rap categories this year…but not for "Super Freaky Girl".

Grammy voters who received their ballot tell Variety that Minaj is in contention in the Best Rap Performance category for another one of her songs, "Do We Have a Problem?", which has a featured appearance by Lil Baby. The Grammys rap judging committee apparently considered this a true hip song and "Super Freaky Girl" more pop in nature, which split the difference.

"Do we have a problem?" was a substantial hit, but not as huge as "Super Freaky Girl," which went to No. 1 that summer on the Billboard Hot 100. "Do we have a problem?" was released in February and climbed to #2 on this chart. Minaj has already been rewarded for this: the video "Problem" won the trophy for best hip-hop video at the MTV Video Music Awards in August.

In fact, Minaj makes several other appearances in the rap part of the Grammy ballot, although several are for collaborative songs on which she was considered more of a featured artist and may not have been involved in Grammys submissions.

"Blick Blick", a track she shares with Coi Leray, is up for best rap performance and best rap song. (It was also submitted and accepted in the music video category.) Similarly, “Love in the Way,” a song she did with Blue, is among the songs eligible for Best Rap Song and Best Performance. of melodic rap. In both cases, Minaj is listed as a featured artist, not the lead name (although when those two respective songs were released, she shared the headlining rather than taking "featured" credit).

As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter — setting off alarm bells for Minaj in a series of social media posts and video monologues on Thursday - the Grammys' rap judging committee returned "Super Freaky Girl" to the pop division. It's not uncommon for artists to complain about being moved into the pop division of a genre category: Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile both expressed annoyance at having done so with their submissions last year, like Justin Bieber had done the year before. Either way, "SFG" found itself up for Best Pop Solo Performance as well as Best All-Genre Music Videos.

In total, Minaj appears eight times on the ballot - once in a pop category, two once in a music video, and five times in the rap categories. However, the fact that she has other chances to be nominated and win in the rap division does not align her belief and that of others that "Super Freaky Girl" remains her best chance to pick up something, and that his best bet might have been in the much less crowded rap category.

However, Minaj's apparent belief that she was fired from rapping in order to clear a path for Latto "Big Energy" may not hold water entirely. It's not at all clear that "Super Freaky Girl" and "Big Energy" would ever have fought in the same category. Because even though it's rumored that "Super Freaky Girl" was originally submitted by Minaj's camp for Best Rap Performance, then rejected, "Big Energy" is also not included in this category. The song Latto is on the ballot under s. ..