Nicki Minaj is the most successful female rapper of all time. If you don’t believe me, just listen to her. She also claims to be the greatest and one of the hardest.
“Is this the thanks that I get for puttin‘ you bitches on?
Is it my fault that all of you bitches gone?
Should’ve sent a thank-you note, you little ho
Now I’m a wrap your coffin with a bow
(Ni-ni–ni) “Nicki, she’s just mad ’cause you took the spot”
Word, that bitch mad ’cause I took the spot?
Well, bitch, if you ain’t shittin’, then get off the pot
Got some n****s out in Brooklyn that’ll off your top”“forget barbie f**k Nicki she’s fake
she’s on a diet but her pockets eating cheese cake
and I’ll say Bride of Chucky is child’s play
just killed another career it’s a mild day”
Those are some of the more famous Nicki lyrics from “Roman’s Revenge” and “Monster.” Nicki kills both verses, no debate. But she also sets herself up as an unafraid MC willing to take on all challengers.
Remy Ma has accepted the challenge. According to this Complex story, the beef goes back as far as 2007, but was put on hold when Remy went to jail. Upon her release, everything seemed fine between the two rappers.
In late 2016, Remy started throwing subliminal shots at Nicki, but gave a non-denial that the lyrics were directed at Nicki. Nicki fired back on “Swalla” and “Make Love” with some shots that were most likely directed at Remy.
“I gave these bitches two years, now your time’s up
Bless her heart, she throwing shots but every line sucks”“You see, silly rabbit, to be the queen of rap
You gotta sell records, you gotta get plaques”
Here’s the thing about rap nowadays: subliminal shots are common place. Back in the day, rappers were a bit more direct with their lyrics. But nowadays, no one wants to directly call out anyone. And when they do (sup Kendrick?), everyone else just ignores them (sup everyone named on that “Control” verse?).
Remy got tired of the subliminal shots this weekend when she release “shETHER.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd8G-ohqWNY
The seven minute song, which doubles as a homicide, talks about Nicki’s implants, accuses her of sleeping around, calls her out for ghostwriting and supporting her child molesting brother, and features a dozen or so name flips.
“And I saw Meek at All-Star, he told me your ass dropped
He couldn’t f**k you for three months
Because your ass dropped
Now I don’t think y’all understand how bad her ass got
The implants that she had put in her ass popped”“And to be the Queen of Rap, you gotta actually rap
The whole industry know that your s**t is a wrap
No, to be the Queen of Rap, you can’t have a ghostwriter
And that’s why this is my house; Flo Rida
N****s done seen Drake pennin‘, Wayne pennin‘
And since your first boyfriend left, bitch ain’t winnin’
You a Internet troll, a Web browser, I’m sorry
You can’t get a on line without Safaree”“Guess who supports a child molester? Nicki Minaj
You paid for your brother’s wedding? That’s hella foul
How you spendin‘ money to support a pedophile?”
This was Nicki’s chance to step up and to back up her lyrical talk after all of these years. One cold-hearted response and Remy would be through.
Nicki responded with a now-deleted Instagram post about record sales and a video of Beyonce calling Nicki “the queen of rap.”
What?
After years of rapping about being the best and ending careers and months of subliminal shots toward Remy, you run to social media?
That’s the problem with a lot of rappers nowadays. Instead of taking it to record, they take it to Twitter. Nicki has 20 million followers. Remy has 200K. The plan is obvious. Nicki has a wider reach, feels she can “kill” Remy with one tweet about sales and a Beyonce endorsement, and be done with things. That works for rappers who aren’t built for war, but if Nicki isn’t built for war, after all she’s rapped over the years, she’s proving Remy right about the ghostwriters.
Nicki just watched her ex-boyfriend get destroyed by Drake because Drake came out with diss record after diss record and Meek Mill came out with tweet after tweet. Meek is a former battle rapper and a street rapper. Drake is the dude who cries over his ex. Nicki sat back and watched as the world laughed at her bae. And she learned nothing.
To the general public, Nicki will win this feud. Most of her fans won’t even know that “shETHER” or Remy Ma exist. Nicki will continue to sell millions of records and do pop songs with Ariana Grande, but to the real hip hop fans, she’ll be buried if she doesn’t respond with lyrics.
No matter what she says on record from here on out, when she talks about “being the best” or ending the career of other rappers, we’ll always ask, “What about Remy though?”