Nicki Minaj sent fans into a frenzy when she brought out Lil Wayne during a recent performance. Minaj shut down day one of main stage performances at the ESSENCE Festival with her hour-long set Friday night (July 1).

According to ESSENCE, the performance marked Minaj’s first appearance at the four-day festival that draws groves of people to New Orleans each summer. The Young Money CEO joined Minaj onstage as they performed their certified platinum records “Highschool,” and “Seeing Green.” The latter being Tunechi and the Trinidadian-American rapper’s most recent collaboration that dropped last year.

Minaj rocked the stage at Ceasar’s Superdome with other fan-favorite cuts such as “Beez in the Trap,” and “Moment 4 Life.” Minaj’s last studio album drop was “Queen” in 2018. While she blazed record charts with hit after hit for a number of years, she has yet to publicly declare when a new album can be expected.

“I’m always gonna keep on putting out music. I have an actual real fan base and not paid bots,” said Minaj during an Instagram Live earlier this year. “I will never – and I said this before, I’ve said this many times years ago – I will never leave the game until I wanna leave it. It will always be on my terms.”

Within the past year, younger acts such as Fivio Foreign, Lil Baby, and Bia have each scored features from the 10-time Grammy nominated artist. Although, her biggest hit may have been welcoming her and husband Kenneth Petty’s son in September 2020. In her own words, her son has been the “ultimate blessing.”

“When I look at my son, I’m reminded that I am so blessed,” she told talkshow host James Corden. “I realized, for so many women, this is their dream. Their dream is to have a child and not everybody gets that blessing. So when you have a little baby, you are reminded every day like, ‘Oh my God. Thank you God for this little gift.’ “