Quavo and Nicki Minaj sit across from each other inside what's probably a '50s-style diner, complete with neon lights and a convertible car turned into a proper dining booth. That's one of the scenes in the just-released music video for "She for Keeps," a track off Quality Control: Control the Streets, Vol. 1 mixtape.
The nostalgic clip, directed by The Daps and Quavo himself, is nostalgic and vibrant — like what one would get if they somehow converted candy into a music video but added heavy doses of hip-hop.
In a sense, the whole visual for "She for Keeps" is a love letter to the olden days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Reebok Pumps, and adorable little flip phones. It even begins by someone inserting a tape into a Tascam cassette player and pushing play. Then Quavo's luscious autotuned voice croons, contemplating over and over whether the woman he's seeing will be with him for a long time.
"Is she for keeps? somebody tell / Is she for keeps? Somebody tell."
Quavo appears shortly thereafter, clad in his neon-green fanny pack, lurid silk shirt, and washed-out denims. He stands in front of a pink home as he gushes over his lady, Minaj, and tells her to "drop off your old boy, then get with me."
Minaj appears in bed later in the clip, on the landline speaking to Quavo as she blasts her verse:
"Perfect, nobody's perfect / My body's perfect, b***h I'm perfect / Somebody lied, just watch me murk it / I'ma murk it, bitches my sons, I used a surrogate / Got 'em hurting, he know for certain, cop me that Birkin..."
Later, Minaj brushes off rivals in the bathroom and has a meet-cute with Quavo at the neon-lit retro diner eating fries and burgers.
Then at the end of her verse, Minaj drops the mic, claiming that she stands out above the rest of the other girls.
"Tell that b***h I'm Oprah, she couldn't even be Gayle / I'm me, when will these girls ever see? / You will never be Nicki, and that's the real key-key / Ki-ki, ki-ki."
Quality Control: Control the Streets, Vol. 1 was released in December 2017. Aside from Quavo and Minaj, the mixtape also features Offset, Cardi B, Travis Scott, Gucci Mane, and many others.
You can watch the music video for "She for Keeps" below. Check out the full lyrics on Genius. Thoughts on the retro theme and heavy nostalgia imagery? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section!
