“I wrote this down, I do not know why, however this was in my spirit to say: I want that Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson had been right here,” Minaj started. “I want that individuals understood what they meant and what they had been going by. … I want Pop Smoke and Juice Wrld and Nipsey Hussle had been right here. R.I.P. Daddy, my cousin Richard, and my enterprise supervisor Angela, who I by no means acquired to say ‘relaxation in peace’ to publicly.”
She additionally talked about psychological well being, saying, “I want that individuals took psychological well being severely — even for the folks that you just suppose have the proper lives.”
Minaj, who was one of many co-hosts of the occasion with LL Cool J and Jack Harlow, accepted the award after performing a medley of her hits, together with her new single “Tremendous Freaky Woman.”
Minaj credited Lil Wayne, Cunning Brown, Lauryn Hill and Jay-Z for uplifting her work, and he or she thanked a few of her previous collaborators like Kanye West, Beyoncé, Madonna, Eminem, Britney Spears and Rihanna.