{"id":11367,"date":"2025-09-26T13:01:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/?p=11367"},"modified":"2025-09-26T13:01:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:01:43","slug":"gyptian-says-hold-yuh-was-mega-hit-before-nicki-minaj-remix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/?p=11367","title":{"rendered":"Gyptian Says \u2018Hold Yuh\u2019 was Mega-Hit Before Nicki Minaj Remix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifteen years after his mega-hit single\u00a0\u2018Hold Yuh\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0was released, internationally renowned recording artiste Gyptian is setting the record straight behind the track, especially as it relates to conversations surrounding the remix with Nicki Minaj, catapulting the song into global success.<\/p>\n

The entertainer, in a recent interview now making the rounds on social media, said while Minaj\u2019s addition did introduce the song to a wider audience, the track was already a mainstream success. In fact, the entertainer stated that it was the song that made the Trinidad-born rapper bigger and not the other way around.<\/p>\n

\u201cInna all platform is the original (track) a di bigger one. She got bigger from the song\u2026don\u2019t make the American dream sound like it\u2019s more when it\u2019s really not,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people mi hear talk and it\u2019s not like we do politics because if you notice me nuh do interviews (but) anuh so it go. She was an artiste on a mixtape, yuh understand. Yuh have a yute name, Safaree, a Safaree a di man weh make she reach pan the track because this track was fire bredda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the revenue weh come in is not because of her part of it because really and truly her song (the remix isn\u2019t even official), so anuh she do millions. She do millions pan fi her other rest a song dem after,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

The entertainer, holding firm on his stance regarding the song\u2019s global success, said he hasn\u2019t previously commented on the narrative that Minaj made the track bigger because he is not too keen on industry politics. He shared, however, that with more than a decade having elapsed since the song\u2019s debut, now is the time to set the records straight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe a big man now, so a time fi we set it now, couple years later we can set it straight now. Anuh she do nothing fi di song. Inna reality, a di song do fi she because nobody knew her out of New York,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gyptian\u2019s 2010 hit, released by VP Records, was a resounding success, thrusting Jamaican music back into the mainstream after it peaked at number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 16 on the United Kingdom (UK) Singles Chart and number 69 on the Canadian Hot 100. At the time, Minaj was on the cusp of fame after achieving success through her mixtape and was signed to Lil Wayne\u2019s Young Money group in 2009. Her debut album,\u00a0\u2018Pink Friday\u2019<\/em>, <\/strong>was released in November 2010 and became the number one selling album in the United States (US) in February 2011.<\/p>\n

Music pundits knowledgeable of the timeline regarding Minaj\u2019s breakthrough fiercely defended Gyptian on social media after some users dubbed the singer delusional for saying the song was big even before the rapper\u2019s addition.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s actually very correct.\u00a0\u2018Hold Yuh\u2019<\/em>\u00a0was a massive hit. I remember it played on mainstream radio in the US, and in those days, reggae and dancehall playing on mainstream radio was still a big deal. The song was released over 15 years ago, so many of y\u2019all saying he\u2019s crazy probably don\u2019t even remember or were even born yet,\u201d one user commented on a video of the interview on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe ain\u2019t wrong, and most of you commenting were probably too young to understand how major this song was. Nicki Minaj was just getting her official breakthrough with her first hit. At that time, she wasn\u2019t that big, plus Rasta always had a fan base in Europe. The man song been booming (and) it definitely helped Nicki show versatility and gain more fans at the time,\u201d another commented.<\/p>\n

Minaj made her Reggae Sumfest debut in 2011, where she performed the track before a Jamaican audience. In a BET interview at the time, Minaj expressed shock at the reception she received from the Jamaican audience, stating she didn\u2019t realise locals would have even known her songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t think I was gonna have this much fun,\u201d the rapper said in a backstage interview at the time. \u201cCause I didn\u2019t think they were gonna know my songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0\u2018Hold Yuh\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0remix spent 29 weeks on the Billboard Hot R&B\/Hip-Hop Songs and 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. The track\u2019s success also led to Gyptian copping a Soul Train Award and a Music of Black Origin (MOBO) award at the time. It was certified gold in the US in March 2013 for sales of over 500,000 copies. In 2017, the song was included on Billboard\u2019s 12 Best Dancehall & Reggaeton Choruses of the 21st century, and in 2024, it was certified double Platinum in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

The official music video currently has over 181 million views on YouTube, while the song has over 280 million plays on Spotify.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifteen years after his mega-hit single\u00a0\u2018Hold Yuh\u2019\u00a0was released, internationally renowned recording artiste Gyptian is setting the record straight behind the track, especially as it relates to conversations surrounding the remix with Nicki Minaj, catapulting the song into global success. The entertainer, in a recent interview now making the rounds on social media, said while Minaj\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":11359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11368,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367\/revisions\/11368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}