Anaconda

A fun singalong song as described by Nicki. The song is a sample of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back: hit back in 1992. In an interview with Complex Magazine Nicki said: “I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual but be playful with it and I wanted it to be so melodic that even if you don’t understand English you could still go along with the melody and you would have no idea about all the raunchy shit I’m saying, I get a kick out of that. The song was a simple one to write, I just created the melody and then I let the words happen. I started laughing when I said, ‘Boy toy named Troy. That whole song, I was just being dumb. It was a joke. My biggest thing was seeing how my girlfriends Sherika and Thembi were going to react. If they don’t like a song, they’ll be like, ‘No.’ As soon as they walked in the studio, we were laughing and having fun. I thought, if we’re doing this, then everybody is going to have fun with it.”
Sir Mix-a-Lot explained to MTV News how Nicki was in touch with him the whole time she was recording the song, he said: “She called while she was in the studio. . I don’t really know Nicki Minaj, but I can tell you this: Lazy, she is not. That girl works hard. I was blown away by her work ethic. She would hit us up, she’d be in the studio vibing, coming up with different ideas, making sure those ideas were cool. She’d call you back after a couple more hours.”

Release Date: August 4, 2014

Songwriter/s: Onika Maraj – Jamal Jones – Jonathan Solone-Myett – Ernest Clark – Marcos Palacios – Sir Mix-a-lot

Label: Young Money – Cash Money – Republic

Chart Rankings:
UK – 3
US – 2
Germany – 10
In the UK, the song reached number 3 on the Official Charts Company and topped the R&B Charts. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it Silver for sales over 200,000 copies. In the US, it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 21 on the Mainstream Top 40. ‘Anaconda’ topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts and reached number 4 on the US Rhythmic charts. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it Double Platinum for sales over 2 million copies. The song reached the top 10 in several countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland. It was certified Double Platinum in Australia, and Gold in Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

Artist’s age on Release Date: Onika Tanya Maraj aka Nicki Minaj was 32 years old when she released this song.

Cover Versions: Bart Baker and Tiffany Tynes – A group on Bunnies for the movie Sing – Amateur artists covered this song on Youtube.