"Problem" almost featured other rapper instead of Iggy
Quote:
"Problem" began as an untitled track by Kotecha that he nicknamed "The Whisper Song," after a 2005 Ying Yang Twins hit. "I dont remember where I came up with it," says Kotecha, who has written most of One Directions biggest hits. "Maybe in an airplane bathroom. On my phone I have an audio note where I whisper, One less problem."
Grande, who leans toward high-octane belting, was confused at first by the muted chorus. "I was scared to approach it, because of the whispers," she says. "Their objective was to do the opposite of a traditional song structure. The idea was to have a really belt-y verse and then a completely minimalistic, whispering, basic chorus. At first, I just didnt like being all belt-y right away."
The next step was injecting some hip-hop into the song. "Scooter was obsessed with bringing in the Ying Yang Twins," says Goldstein. "We had them try, but they just flopped it. They couldnt get it together." Grande pushed to get Iggy Azalea on the track. "We figured it had to be a girl," says Kotecha. "And theres so few big-name -female rappers in hip-hop. She came in without any drama, got behind the mic and just killed it."
People... the article isn't that hard to understand. There was never meant to be another female rapper other than Iggy, the other rapper(s) were the Ying Yang Twins, but since they didn't work out, Ariana pushed for Iggy. The female comment was made in reflection, not as a requirement.