TRANSFORMER - NICKI & FUTURE

“What the fuck? Imma have to pump brakes on these hoes.”

“What the fuck?”– Nicki Minaj’s reaction to the rap girls coming for her & being disrespectful. In reference to pumping brakes, Nicki is letting the girls know she will have to calm them down cause they’ve been acting out

“Real shooters, I don’t ever pump fake on these hoes”

“Pump fake” is a basketball/football reference which refers to a feigned attempt to pass the ball. Also, “pump” or “pumps” are slang terms for high heels.

Therefore, Minaj is likely referring to the incident with Cardi B at the 2018 NY Fashion Week where Cardi threw one of her pumps/heels at her and missed. In this context, this could be a double-entendre meaning the following:

1. Nicki is stating that she’s not about the hands because she’s better & doesn’t need to fight because she has people who will handle her business. She is also referring to hanging out with real goons and professional shooters; people who are about that life that rappers boast.

2. Minaj considers herself a real shooter, she’s got aim, and whenever she targets the competition –in her raps– she shoots and hits leaving the other “hoes” triggered.

Nicki may also be insinuating that Cardi B intentionally missed Minaj with her heels because she didn’t really want a fight with her. Cardi B was just showing off; hence the term “pump fake.”

Also,​ notice the homophone “shooters/SHOE-ters” in reference to the infamous incident

“Me and Pluto pull up in that new Ferrari drip”

Nicki Minaj references Future’s nickname “Pluto”. Future discussed the word’s meaning to him in an April 2012 interview with Complex:

I say “astronaut status” because that’s what I make, timeless music.

Ferrari is an Italian sports car company that is highly coveted in modern society for its prestige and exclusivity. “Drip” is a slang term used to describe high end fashion, indicating that Future and Nicki Minaj are both equipped in stylish apparel.

“Four albums in, pull a milli for a show”

As of this song’s release, Nicki has dropped four studio albums, all four reaching RIAA Platinum status or higher. In 2018, her album Queen became the fastest album by a female artist to reach a Platinum certification.

Nicki still gets paid $1M for shows despite being 10+ years in the industry while many of her rap counterparts have declined in demand over the years. Nicki previously rapped a similar line during a freestyle on Episode 9 of her #1 Apple Beats 1 radio show, “Queen Radio”.

“While these bitches is serving Milli Vanilli on the low”

The duo Milli Vanilli was caught lip-syncing to their hit, “Girl You Know It’s True” during the Club MTV Tour in 1989. The duo was later exposed for passing off someone else’s vocals as their own for their entire album.

Nicki has made it known time and time again that she writes all her own raps and will never allow a man to write for her. She takes aim at rappers who utilize ghostwriters and has said this line is about EVERYBODY male or female.

“Spent some money on some dope, where my money envelope?”

Nicki is stating she spent money on some weed. The second bar iterates that she just left the bank with a bunch of cash in an envelope. She paid for her weed with fresh bills. This line also ties in with the next bar.

“Transform it to a billi cause I really am the goat”

She says dope but can also loosely be heard as doe, a doe is a female goat. So she makes her money work for her and it always comes back. As a female (doe) females give birth (to a billy) since she really is a goat

“Billy”, tying into the last line, is short for “billion” here. Nicki also frequently raps about being the “billy,” a way to use the acronym GOAT to call herself the Greatest Of All Time. She has used this acronym countless times in a myriad of creative ways.

Ex:

He say I’m the GOAT, yeah, the billy on you
-“Bed”

Uh, a million I’m getting my billy on
Greatest of all time, ‘cause I’m a chameleon
-“Woman Like Me”

I’m the billy, billy goat, the GOAT, the GOAT’s here
-“Hard White”

Now they calling me Billy, I’m the goat
-“Skrt on me”

“Transformer, I just popped a transformer”

Ecstasy pills in America often come in the shape of a Transformer head. It is important to note that Nicki may be referencing the drug to fit in with the theme of Juice Wrld and Future’s mixtape which this song appears on.

“Master bathroom, two jacuzzis and a sauna”

Nicki boasts about her lavish master bathroom in her mansion. All the electricity it takes to have all that in one bathroom could’ve literally popped the voltage transformer in her neighborhood, hence the previous line.

“They ain’t warn her, now she out here facing karma”

Karma is the belief that the (negative) actions of a person will determine their fate in the future.

In this context, Nicki says that she never intended to stop a female rapper from gaining success, but some of them were so intimidated by her that they couldn’t resist going at her and because of that now they are facing their karma and are flopping.

See: Chip ‘n Dale

“Had a chance but, got at me now she’s a goner”

Nicki could also be implying that other artists weren’t warned to never come for her but since they did, now she is going to be their karma and fight them until they face the consequences of speaking negatively​ on her name.

This could be a possible shot at all of the female rappers that had a chance to become big in the rap/hip-hop industry but went to prison or couldn’t sell over 50k and now claim that Nicki “stopped their bag”.

“Where my bad bitches? Fuck these niggas, give them trauma”

This is in reference to some altercations Nicki had with her ex Safaree. Shortly after the release of Nicki’s Queen album, he took to Twitter to accuse Nicki of stabbing him while they were still in a relationship:

Nicki had previously addressed this 4 years prior on the song “Bed of Lies”:

“I ain’t mean to cut you,
I ain’t wanna catch a felony
This ain’t How To Be A Player,
you ain’t Bill Bellamy”

Taking into account that Nicki stated in a police report that Safaree had hit her in the face with a suitcase after an argument before this happened, she is likely ridiculing guys for ending up feeling “traumatized” when the women they abuse hit them back.

“Could’ve fixed his life, but, now that nigga need Iyanla”

This line plays on the title of OWN’s reality televison series, Iyanla: Fix My Life. It could be an indirect shot at Nicki’s longtime ex Safaree as well, as he in the past has publicly tweeted at Iyanla for mental help

“All his friends tryna kill it, eat it, J.A. Dahmer”

Dahmer was known to kill, skin and peel the flesh off of animals, particularly cats when he was younger. This developed his disregard for life prior to moving up to human bodies. Men want to “kill the pussy” and eat her out.

“Niggas snakes but STUPID, I’m the snake charmer”

A snake charmer is someone who appears to hypnotize a snake by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A “snake” is also slang for someone that you may think is loyal but turns out to be a backstabber.