“I never in a million years thought I’d be back rapping in New York with Cyndi Lauper,” Minaj told the crowd about her idol.

The rapper surprised the crowd at her Pink Friday 2 World Tour stop at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday, May 1 by bringing out Lauper, 70, to perform “Pink Friday Girls,” which features a prominent sample of the Grammy winner’s signature hit, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

The moment went down toward the end of the show, and the pair held hands as they strutted down Minaj’s catwalk and delivered their first live performance of “Pink Friday Girls.” Midway through the song, according to fan-filmed footage, the “Super Bass” musician, 41, told the crowd, “Make some noise for this icon, this legend.”

As the “Pink Friday Girls” performance came to an end, Minaj turned to Lauper, bowed down and expressed gratitude for her presence at the show. “I have been speaking about this woman in my interviews since I first began rapping,” she said, per a video shared to social media.

Lauper’s appearance at Minaj’s concert comes after the rapper was joined by Drake at the Pink Friday 2 World Tour stop in Toronto on Tuesday, April 30 to perform their recent collaboration, “Needle.”

Minaj has been quite open about her love for Lauper throughout her career, writing on X (formerly Twitter) in 2009, “Cyndi lauper made my 3 fave songs of all time. True colors, time after time and girlz jus wanna have fun. Genious.”

The following year, Minaj and Katy Perry performed a duet version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” on VH1 Divas Salute the Troops.

At the 2010 Grammy Awards, the pair officially met for the first time. “This is crazy. People don’t know how obsessed I am with you,” said Minaj on the red carpet, before referring to Lauper as “one of my fashion icons.”

Upon the release of “Pink Friday Girls” on Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 album in December 2023, Lauper shared the song to her Instagram Story, while the “Barbie World” performer wrote on X, “I’m told she’s never cleared a master recording. I am so grateful. I’ve always loved her as you guys know.”

The Pink Friday 2 World Tour continues through July, with shows scheduled in cities including New Orleans, Houston, Oklahoma City, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Dublin and more.