Source: Recording artist Nicki Minaj visits and performs at BET’s 106 & PARTY’s New Years Eve special at BET Studios on December 11, 2009 (Photo by Neilson Barnard) / Getty
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.
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:
Source: Julia Beverly
“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.
Chile, I can’t, but this behavior isn’t new. Nicki’s rap sheet of beef with women is long and exhausting: Lil’ Kim, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Remy Ma, Cardi B, K. Michelle, SZA, Miley Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion, Latto, and more recently, Beyoncé.
In 2009, she told VladTV that women in hip-hop weren’t successful because they were too “catty” and forgot the “business” side of things. Ironically, Minaj has become the very problem she once claimed to be rising above. While she modeled her grind after the male-dominated blueprint of success, she adopted the worst traits of it—gatekeeping, gaslighting, and women-bashing.
Whether it’s behind-the-scenes sabotage or on-the-record shade, Nicki’s brand has long centered on being the self-appointed queen who masquerades as a misunderstood feminist but instead tears down any woman approaching her throne, and now it’s time to get real about why that is—bitterness.
Let’s kick things off with the body and attempted slut shaming by a woman whose butt literally flipped over on stage on TV, and who is also the wife of a registered sex offender. It’s clear that self-love is a sore spot because she’s not as young or as popular as she used to be.
Even prior to her spat with SZA and TDE, Minaj was online bitterly taking aim at Beyoncé and Jay-Z for once again being bigger stars than she is due to her own personal choices and alignments.
Nicki and I are around the same age, and it’s sad to see a middle-aged woman who’s clearly peaked, utilizing tactics of a high school mean girl instead of her talent to trend. This trend of attack instead of collaboration is usually a move of desperation, utilized by a person who knows that their 15 minutes are up. They realize that no matter how many bots the label creates to support your online delusion, you’re now a literal loser in real life.
For me, this is heartbreaking because I rooted for Minaj and championed the “boss b—tch” narrative that she entered the game with. I bought into the lie that she was a girl’s girl who wanted to see women win in an industry dominated by men and believed it was our time to shine. But instead of using her time, name, and influence at its most powerful state to uplift and encourage those behind, Minaj chose to tear them down. She dropped the collaborative mindset and transitioned into thinking she had the privilege of a white woman—throwing rocks and playing victim. It’s the same formula Nicki has used for over a decade: gaslight, attack, play victim, rinse, repeat.
This is no longer about friendly rivalry, and hip-hop has always had beef. Nicki’s problem isn’t competition; it’s women, and the receipts are long.
Her legacy is no longer defined by her music, her record sales, or even her early cultural impact, but instead riddled with mean tweets fueled by insecurity, unnecessary trolling, and the bridges she’s burned with women who once looked up to her. It’s truly time to mute Nicki Minaj and any other hater who doesn’t contribute to the culture, but instead bastardizes and degrades it.
And lastly, Nicki Minaj isn’t a misunderstood queen; she’s a former and bitter one, and it’s time we said it out loud.
