During a guest appearance on Kai Cenat's Twitch stream, Nicki Minaj revealed the song was originally intended for Drake's album For All the Dogs.
Anyway, to make a long story short, that same day he also told me, "Hey, I'm not using it for the album 'cause it doesn't fit the sonic vibe.
[4][5] In regard to style, "Needle" is inspired by dancehall[5] and Afrobeats,[6] and has also been described as "tropical house bop"[2] and "bumpy, island-tinged R&B".
"[8] With respect to Minaj's performance, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of Pitchfork commented that "Flashes of her notorious humor emerge" in the song.
[10] Nick Malone of PopMatters described the song as "an obvious leftover from Drake's For All the Dogs, defined by his signature anesthetized mumble-singing and an uninspired Nicki verse that cries out for the lightweight fun of 'Only' or 'Truffle Butter'.