BY: YAA TANDOH
When it comes to Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, people can agree on a few things: Minaj has the talent while Cardi B has dope beats. But some people just don't care. There has been a lot of escalating tension between the two over the past year, so here's a little history on their feud.
How can you say someone changed their verse & forget to say Quavo TOLD me to remove my singing part (which I loved) & Atlantic told me to remove your name from my verse per your request? So how were those changes gonna happen if I didn't "change" my verse? 😩🤣 #NickiDay #ChunLi
— QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) April 12, 2018
The first real instance of conflict between Minaj and Cardi B occurred during the production of the Migos 2017 song, Motor Sport. Cardi B called out Nicki Minaj for having her lyrics changed and a part taken out of the song. In an interview with Zane Lowe, Minaj responded by saying that she was very hurt and offended at Cardi B's behavior towards her for the whole ordeal.
Then, Nicki Minaj allegedly liked instagram posts dissing Cardi B. These were in fact proven to be fake and the post has since been taken down, but the tensions continued to flare.
From there began the true feud between the two female rappers. Interviews, social media posts, and more veiled threats in songs eventually led up to Cardi B attacking Nicki Minaj at the Harper's Bazaar's ICONS party. Now they have a genuine rap beef. But why is that? From the very beginning of this so called "feud" a lot of things have been pushed forward by the media and fans on both sides. Plus, if you tell someone something often enough they start to believe it and that's what happened in the case of Cardi B and Nicki Minaj.
Minaj is used to the game and in her own way she thought she was helping Cardi B. However, Cardi B didn't see it like that at all, she's a very straight forward person, to her Minaj's language came off as confrontational and off putting. No one is right or wrong. If anything, it is more likely a huge misunderstanding. For her part, Nicki Minaj needs to be a bit more patient with Cardi B and Cardi B might need an entourage that doesn't entice her to take violent action. According to Steve Harvey, one guy even handed Cardi B the shoes to throw at Minaj.
After the fight, Cardi B took to instagram to drag Nicki Minaj. Accusing Minaj of criticizing her parenting skills and insulting her newborn child, Kulture. Minaj was then silent until a week later where she opened up on Queen Radio about how humiliating it was for her to be caught up in such an incident in front of such well established people. Minaj then dragged Cardi B claiming that she had bought all of her fans, she was racist, sent men to attack two women, and mocked a mother for losing her child. Minaj then went on the defensive stating that she would never come after someone's child.
Recently, Cardi B's sister Hennessy has clapped back at Minaj even bringing up the fact that her brother was arrested for raping a minor. Not to mention Cardi B stating that Nicki Minaj is trying to "Stop her bags", meaning she is trying to stop her flow of money. Fans of Minaj have recently taken to making a joke out of it with social media posts with the #NickiStoppedMyBag.
Minaj then decided to profit of the hashtag by incorporating it into her latest merchandise.
In all of this media craze I think many people have forgotten the underlying message in this so called "beef". The minute Cardi B came on to the scene people have been talking about how she and Nicki Minaj had beef, will have beef, or should beef. People talked about how the dis tracks would be off the chain. There was a desire by fans and consumers for them to have a fight.
In an industry with very few women rapping at such a high level there is an expectation that they should fight since women are catty and there is not enough room for more than one woman at the top. Male rappers often start "beefing" with one another, but it is rarely when they have just come on to the scene. Rap has always been dominated by several men, but, unlike with female rappers, no one expects immediate problems.
With fans and the media constantly pitting one female rapper against another, it is no surprise that an altercation like this happened. Both of these powerful women have the ability to join forces and move forward together, but, especially with the addition of Minaj's new merchandise, that doesn't seem likely to happen. Will there be a time when we can have multiple female rappers share the same limelight without posing a threat to one another? Only time will tell.
