“Anaconda” is a song by rapper Nicki Minaj. It was released on August 4, 2014, by Young Money, Cash Money, and Republic as the second single from her third studio album, The Pinkprint (2014).[2] The song was produced by Polow da Don, DJ Spydr, and Da Internz, and prominently samples “Baby Got Back” (1992) by Sir Mix-a-Lot.[3] It peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Minaj’s highest-charting single at the time. The song also peaked within the top ten in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, top forty in Austria, France and Portugal and top fifty in Czech Republic.
Colin Tilley directed an accompanying video for the song, which was released on August 19, 2014. Following the video’s release, it broke the 24-hour streaming record on Vevo by accumulating 19.6 million views in its first day of release. In 2021, “Anaconda” became the first music video for a solo female rap song to hit 1 billion views. To further promote the song, Minaj performed it live at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and also performed it at Fashion Rocks and the iHeartRadio Music Festival. “Anaconda” was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 2015 Grammy Awards.[4] The song was also nominated for two categories at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Best Female Video and Best Hip-Hop Video, winning the latter.
On August 5, 2014, producer Polow da Don claimed that the “Anaconda” instrumental was originally intended for rapper and musician Missy Elliott, but was scrapped and then re-recorded by Minaj.[5] However, on August 24, 2014, Elliott contradicted Polow’s recollections, saying she never received the instrumental.[6] The cover art for the single went viral on the web after being revealed. On various digital music stores, the cover art is censored with the Parental Advisory label over Minaj’s buttocks. The song heavily samples “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot, who also has vocals in the chorus of the song.
The song has been viewed by some as a diss track, in answer to “Baby Got Back“. Whereas Sir Mix-a-Lot focuses on a woman’s body and the pleasure it gives him, Minaj raps from the perspective of the unnamed woman, and shows how she uses her body to profit and empower herself.
According to Minaj’s sound engineer Aubry “Big Juice” Delaine, “Anaconda” had 27 different versions at first. Production team Da Internz were then brought in to add drums to the song, whereafter it was sent for mixing and mastering, which made it “perfect”.[8]
Musically, the song is a hip hop and pop-rap song.[9] This song is in a key of C# Phrygian with 124 beats per minute.
A music video[28] for the track was shot in Los Angeles. It was directed by Colin Tilley[29] and was released on August 19, 2014.[28] The video features a cameo appearance by fellow rapper and labelmate Drake.[30] The video broke the 24-hour streaming record on Vevo by accumulating 19.6 million views in its first day of release, beating the 19.3 million 24-hour record previously held by Miley Cyrus for the music video of her song, “Wrecking Ball“, in 2013.[31] On August 30, 2014, eleven days after the release of the music video, “Anaconda” was Vevo certified for receiving over 100 million views. In 2015 Taylor Swift surpassed Minaj’s record with the video for her single “Bad Blood” which got 20.1 million views in 24 hours.[32]
In a review of Minaj’s video, Lucas Villa of AXS wrote, “It’s butts abound in her bananas clip for ‘Anaconda.”[33] NBC host Al Roker called the music video “vile” and “desperate”. Roker said, “It almost seems like Minaj has gotten desperate and needs to do something to get her crown back.”[34] Molly Lambert of Grantland was complimentary, writing “the video is about Nicki asserting her power, not as a sexual object but a sexual subject.”[35] It was named one of the sexiest videos of 2014 by VH1.[36]
As of April 3, 2021, the video has gained more than 1 billion views, being the first female rap solo song to do so.[37] Billboard also named “Anaconda” the 13th greatest video of the decade.
On 24 August 2014, Minaj first performed the song live at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. The performance followed Ariana Grande‘s individual performance of her single “Break Free” and was followed by a performance of Jessie J, Grande, and Minaj’s joint single “Bang Bang.”[39] On September 9, 2014, Minaj performed the song live at Fashion Rocks.[40] On September 19, 2014, Minaj performed the song at the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival.[41] On November 9, 2014, Minaj performed “Anaconda” at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards in a three-song medley including her other songs “Super Bass” and “Bed of Lies” featuring Skylar Grey.[42] Minaj has performed the song on The Pinkprint Tour, The Nicki Wrld Tour and Pink Friday 2 World Tour.
