The queen of rap performed in San Antonio for the first time in her career and fully embraced her "Mexican Barbz." Nicki Minaj gave her Tejano fans a shout-out and danced to a fellow genre queen, Selena Quintanilla, song with a group of fans.
Minaj performed in the Alamo City on Wednesday, September 18, at the Frost Bank Center. The rapper put on a show to remember for San Antonians with some delays.
She began her performance at exactly 11 p.m., nearly two hours from the event's start time. The show included several hit songs such as "Moment for Life" and newer hits like "FTCU" with breaks for outfit changes. Her breaks lasted several minutes at a time, with at least one taking 20 minutes, and included a DJ to keep the crowd warm.
While waiting for some tea (literally) so her voice could be "perfecto," Nicki did some crowd work and put a few San Antonio twists to it. When asking the crowd how to say I love you in Spanish, the rapper accidentally confused the Texas city for one in California. She recovered by asking a fan to teach her how to properly say "Te Amo San Antonio!"
"Te Amo! Te Amo San Franci-" Minaj said before being cut off by the crowd shouting San Anotnio. "Como se dice. Dime. Dime!"
Everyone makes mistakes, and local Barbz did not let the city confusion stop them from singing, dancing, and chatting with the Grammy winner. Minaj invited a fan, Esteban, to the stage to dance with her and sing Karol G's part in her hit Tusa. Minaj went on to invite "all her Tejano people" up to the stage to dance to the queen of Tejano music, Selena Quintanilla's chart-topper "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom." Before wishing the fans goodbye and ushering them off stage, Minaj introduced them all and asked where their families were from. With fans having Mexican backgrounds, it sparked Minaj to suggest taking her tour to Mexico.
"So I have to get to Mexico ASAP, and I promise I will get there soon, but you guys make some noise for these four beautiful people," Minaj said.
Near the end of the Pink Friday 2 show in San Antonio, Minaj sang throwback songs and even changed the lyrics to "Save Me" to say, "This time won't you save me, San Antonio? San Antonio, save me. San Antonio, save me." She ended the concert with "Starships."
After her show, Minaj expressed her gratitude in an X post, calling her undiscovered San Antonio fanbase "Mexican Barbz."