Linda Perry was as surprised as anyone when she first heard that a mash-up of her band, 4 Non Blondes’ 1993 hit “What’s Up?,” and Nicki Minaj’s 2012 hit “Beez in the Trap went viral on TikTok.
To Perry, at least for her side of this equation, this is nothing new. In the 30-plus years since the song’s release, it’s had moments when it’s spiked back into the cultural consciousness. This is just a newer medium and reaching a much different audience. That said, she’s thrilled about the song’s return just as 4 Non Blondes are playing their first shows in years.
“This is definitely a different type of blow-up, because it’s happening on TikTok,” Perry tells VICE backstage at the Corona Capital festival in Mexico City. “I embrace anything that happens with anything that I create, because it’s pretty awesome. It also lets kids who never knew the song give it a whole new life with this mash-up. I love it. I’m having fun with it.”
When she first heard the mash-up, Perry laughed. Not one for creating mash-ups herself, Perry appreciated the interpretation taken and understood why it went viral.
That said, Perry says that she and Minaj have been in touch about creating a definitive version of the mash-up. “She (Minaj) was in New York and we were going to try to do our own and I was like ‘Let’s just end this with her and I,’” Perry says. “Let’s just put a kibosh on this. But, I can’t go to New York and she can’t come to L.A., so it’s probably not going to happen.” And digital file sharing isn’t an option because Perry prefers to collaborate in person.
Even with that plan thwarted, Perry has a busy 2026 in store. 4 Non Blondes are working on their sophomore studio album, their first since 1992’s Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, with Perry saying she wrote all of the songs, and the basic tracking is complete. She also has a solo album and documentary coming down the pike. Not to mention that she’s still producing other artists. A long-in-the-works Paris Jackson album, she says, will be out in 2026, and Perry is currently producing three albums with other artists, which she can’t reveal.
“We’ll be very busy,” she says of what’s to come. “I feel the synergy of everything, and it is going to overlap really nicely. I have a good feeling about next year.”
The post ‘Let’s Just Put a Kibosh on This’: Linda Perry and Nicki Minaj Nearly Recorded Their Own Version of the Viral Mash-Up (Exclusive) appeared first on VICE.
