From Queen To Troll: How Nicki Minaj Became Her Own Worst Enemy [Op-Ed]

Nicki Minaj is once again attacking another younger, prettier, and more successful woman, adding to her now tainted legacy of being anti-woman and solidifying the fact that it’s time to call her what she truly is: bitter. We have to finally reckon with the fact that her contributions to the culture are outweighed by the damage she’s done to it.

Let’s start with the latest tirade. In true Nicki Minaj fashion, she took to X, formerly Twitter, earlier this month to attack SZA—a woman seven years her junior and five Grammys outside of her tax and success bracket—during a heated exchange with TDE President, Punch. 

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After attempting to be the bigger woman, SZA decided to respond to Minaj’s shade. Minaj went on to claim that SZA “has been trying to tell the world she wrote for Beyoncé every other other business day,” referring to the R&B hitmaker’s co-writing credit on the Beyoncé’s hit record, “Feelin’ Myself,” featuring Minaj. She wrote:

“Nicki. You absolutely know my music and what I contribute cause you’ve asked for features twice to no response . In addition to rapping my lyrics on feeling myself ‘Cooking up the bass looking like a kilo’? Lol ur having a moment ..im not sure why but be blessed.”

After being bested with receipts, Minaj continued her barrage of insults on X, accusing the multi-award-winning artist of having “fake freckles” before listing her own former success and skipping over when she had fake accents, hair, and lyrics (we all know Safaree was writing those bars). Once again, highlighting this isn’t an attempt at professional besting; it’s a woman blatantly tearing down another woman for no apparent reason other than that SZA’s more successful, a point she makes clear with her response. 

“Did you look at the venues I played on my OWN headlined FESTIVAL tour out of the country last year? B***h have you ever headlined to 80K ppl?” she asked in a lengthy, highly critical tweet, omitting that the only tour she was scheduled to co-headline was canceled due to legal troubles. 

Minaj also attacked SZA’s singing abilities, her appearance (calling her “musty” and “fat, chubby, and skinny” at the same time), and saying she was “insecure” for releasing LANA as a deluxe edition of SOS over a year after the album’s initial release instead of putting it out as its own album; referring to her as “MZA,” and saying she’s been “miserable” for nearly two decades. In an attempt to rally her hyperactive fan base, Minaj goes on to accuse SZA of cozying up to the same people she used to diss, before naming Rihanna and Ciara.