In Nicki Minaj’s eyes, her “Flawless” remix is destiny. But this is the music industry, so we know it took a little more than fate to bring her and Beyonce together for this weekend’s pioneering collaboration.

During an interview on Hot 97, Minaj revealed how the song came to be. G. Roberson, founder of management firm Hip Hop Since 1978, approached Minaj “a month or two ago” to say Beyonce would like her to remix “Flawless.” Given how busy both ladies are, it’s not an unfair assumption that they might have fashioned the remix without ever setting foot in the same room, but Minaj says that wasn’t the case:

“After I got proper medical help and started breathing again, I was like, ‘What?’ She sent me a version that she wanted. She told me, ‘I want you to be you. I don’t want you to hold back.” I said, ‘You sure?’ She said, ‘Yeah. I want you to just be you and do you.’ I was actually in New York writing the verse. I recorded the verse in New York and she stopped by the studio. She was such a sweetheart. She was hyping me up, like, ‘Yeah, do your thing. Don’t hold back. Go in.’ And I said, ‘Okay, all right.'”

Minaj says Beyonce told her the track would premiere during the course of the On the Run tour, and indeed it did. Fans woke up Sunday morning to the news that the reigning queens of hip-hop and R&B had joined forces.

“When I was putting out mix tapes and stuff, I would always remix her stuff,” Minaj said. “I have a dope remix that my fans have always been in love with, to one of her songs, ‘Sweet Dreams,’ [that] me and Wayne did,” said Minaj.

“I figured that eventually we would do something together. I mean, I’m not gonna lie. Recently I thought it would never happen ’cause I felt like if she was going to ask me, she would have been asked me. I think the stars aligned the right way. We are just in the right places in our careers that it makes sense now. I feel like, with the release to her last album, her records are geared to what I do now, and so it is what it is.”

What Minaj does now is promote “Anaconda,” her newest single, which samples Six Mir-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.” Maybe Beyonce can join her for the remix.