G Herbo Reveals Nicki Minaj’s ‘Chi-Raq’ Feature as Career Game-Changer

A chance call at 4 a.m. turned into a half-million-dollar win for Chicago rapper G Herbo. 

His 2014 track with Nicki Minaj, "Chi-Raq," sparked this big break, as he told Shannon Sharpe on the Club Shay Shay podcast. But the young artist almost missed his shot. 

When Safaree and Minaj's team first called, G Herbo waved it off. "I'm like, 'Hell nah, that ain't no f**king Nicki,'" he said, as reported by Rap-Up. At the time, fake calls flooded his phone, making him skeptical.

But Minaj's crew stayed on it. They tried again a few days later with an offer to fly him west. The teen rapper, known then as Lil Herb originally, couldn't believe his eyes when he stepped into her pro studio setup.

"After I did that [song], I probably made half a million dollars just grinding. I'm going to do shows, I'm doing s**t. I was young as hell," G Herbo shared with Sharpe. The studio's twin recording booths left him stunned.

"That s**t just really inspired me, like it's a lot of money. You gotta go get that s**t," he said about the eye-opening experience.

The track sat on Minaj's SoundCloud until 2021. Seven years after its first drop, "Chi-Raq" found its way to streaming platforms as part of her Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape.

G Herbo's music shows how much this team-up meant. In "Just Bars," he rapped: "All the b**ches wanna f**kin' lick me / 'Cause I just left the Summer Jam with Nicki / And she just helped me book a couple shows."

Looking back, G Herbo credits this chance with changing his path in music. The late-night call he almost ignored turned into the break that kicked off his rise.

Watch the Club Shay Shay interview below.