Nicki Minaj Fans Host 'Atlantic Records Is Over Party' As Allegations Arise (Again)

Gettyimages | Kevin Mazur

They really didn't have to snap this hard - or did they?

Fans of Nicki Minaj put Atlantic Records on blast over the weekend when they accused the music giant of misconduct against their artists - again. While the origins of Saturday's resurfaced shambles are still questionable, it was definitely the Barbz that made #AtlanticRecordsOverParty the number-one trending topic in the entertainment category.

Atlantic, a subsidiary of Warner, planted its deep roots in jazz almost over 70 years ago with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Otis Redding - so, this might be THE longest trail we've ever been down, it's absolutely littered with similar allegations.

Gettyimages | Kevin Mazur/MG18

We can't find any other outlets covering Minaj's indirectly-direct relationship to this newest edition of #AtlanticRecordsIsOverParty (or even the topic in general). What we did find was a bit of the backstory.

It's still a little funny to see Minaj's name credited with that of Cardi B's in the same song title. After their 2017 collab with MotorSport, Cardi told a UK press outlet that Minaj's original verse was "not the verse that is out there right now." Hearing this, Minaj called Cardi out for not telling the whole story.

"How can you say someone changed their verse & forget to say Quavo TOLD me to remove my singing part (which I loved) & Atlantic told me to remove your name from my verse per your request? So how were those changes gonna happen if I didn’t 'change' my verse?"

Minaj, signed to Young Money, dropped Cardi's name in the original version MotorSport which eventually leaked online. This reaffirmed the Twittersphere that Atlantic's change was done to protect their artist.

Gettyimages | Kevin Mazur

Four months later, someone shared a fairly damning screen-recording of what appears to be the leaking of Ariana Grande's Sweetener album. Why is it so damning?

Well, considering, this person searched "Atlantic Records Leak Sweetener" and were met with the top result being a since-removed download link illicitly planted into the website of an Atlantic Records artist - we'd say it's pretty clear. It's is important to note, though, just how good our modern/online criminals have gotten in recent history. In other words, the leak might not have been done on behalf of Atlantic Records themselves.

Sadly, these aren't the only paint splatters in a montage of malice.

Further fuel to the fire was added when stan Twitter rehashed a similar tale of boyband "Why Don't We," an act signed to Atlantic Records.

"Let's all not forget the time Jonah [Marais] was defending a fan and had to delete the tweet," they wrote on April 11th.

It's unclear exactly who this Jonah fellow was addressing but he was definitely attempting to shut them down. It seems another reason "Why Don't We" was brought into the conversation was because - reportedly - Marais and his fellow band members were silenced by Atlantic Records, banned from interacting with fans during the pandemic. This speculation came after both their group and individual social media accounts "went black" as they took "the beginning of 2020 off to write and produce [their] next studio album."

Wikimedia | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic_logo.svg

Elliot Sang, a journalist, began a deeper dialog via his alt handle @tybutdisagree. He says the topic offered "more discourse about how exploitative the music industry can be around the world."

"Atlantic has long been criticized for their treatment of artists, so any potential mistreatment of current acts is expected."

His thread was packed with quotes, sources, and screenshots, detailing personal accounts business-related issues - such as the underpayment of producers and 360º "deals" (which, when offered by a major/minor, are monopolizing by nature) - as well ethical issues, such as forced "blackfishing" and the over-sexualization of female artists as minors.

"One thing that's important to note from most all of these different accounts," Sang wrote, "is that many of them speak about Atlantic Records specifically, but many of them also speak about these shady tactics being commonplace throughout the music industry, among many major labels."