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Nicki Minaj Lifts Waka Flocka Flame’s Rave-Poppy ‘Get Low’

Waka Flocka Flame

Waka Flocka Flame’s rowdy, ad lib-heavy approach to hip-hop has plenty of similarities with early 2000s crunk. “People was like, ‘Oh, Waka Flocka’s the new Lil Jon. All his music crunk!’ the Atlanta-based rapper told contributor Julianne Escobedo Shepherd in SPIN’S May/June cover story. “And I was like, my shit ain’t crunk, man. This shit gangsta. But I listened to it, and I was like, damn, that shit is crunk, hardcore street music. So I just started branding crunk music again. I just found my lane.”

Paradoxically enough, then, newly surfaced track “Get Low” — which shares a title with a 2003 Lil Jon song that has since been granted boat-shoes-set immortality in Vampire Weekend lyrics — finds Waka Flocka expanding his lane. Produced by Canadian beat master Boi-1Da, this collaboration with hitmakers Nicki Minaj, Tyga, and Flo-Rida has the lighter-than-air, party-ready feel of Minaj’s “Super Bass.” With new album Triple F Life only a week away, the track shows a different side of Waka Flocka than fellow LP cuts like Drake-assisted strip-club paean “Round of Applause,” jacked-up Trey Songz collaboration “I Don’t Really Care”, and Plies-aided shouter “Lurkin’.”

Here’s Flocka, afloat on Auto-Tune vocals, rave-pop strobe synths, and sparkling keyboards: “Her smile shine like the sunlight.” Aww. The rest of the track is just as beaming (via Nah Right)