Lady Leshurr has revealed that she turned down a “massive” record deal after the label asked her to make a Nicki Minaj diss track.
The UK rapper shared details of her early experiences in the music industry during an appearance on Angela Scanlon’s Thanks A Million podcast.
“It’s all about integrity,” the star said of how to navigate the industry. “Don’t just take things because it looks good right now. What is it gonna look like in five years to come, 10 years to come? I felt specific deals that was offered to me, they would have fizzled out within two years.”
She continued to say that her first record deal offer was for “massive, incredible amounts of money”. “I’ve never seen money like that, £250,000,” she said. But the offer came with a catch – make a diss track about Minaj.
“Offered a record label deal with Atlantic who just kept trying to persuade me to do a diss track to Nicki Minaj,” Lady Leshurr explained. “I didn’t know Nicki Minaj then, like personally, we never spoke or anything like that. I knew of her come up, I’ve seen her journey, and I just thought she was amazing.
“I’ve never been the type of person to pull another female down that’s doing their thing. Just randomly. That to me is just so cringy. It turns my stomach thinking about it, ’cause some people do do that. Back then, there wasn’t a word for it, but the word right now is ‘clout.’”
The rapper went on to sign with Sony, before releasing on her own label Unleshed Records. She released her latest EP ‘Astronaut’ on the latter label in December 2020, following her quarantine record ‘Quaranqueen’ in June.
Lady Leshurr has since performed with Minaj, joining her Nicki Wrld tour in Birmingham and Manchester in 2013.
