The 'Anaconda' rapper isn't afraid of confrontation.
Nicki Minaj isn’t afraid of a little confrontation.
The "Chun-Li" rapper has been known to throw shade, directly call out online haters and put bullies on blast, both in person and in her music. Whether it's slamming fellow celebrities, awards shows or comments made about her music and look, Minaj always has a way of making sure her voice is heard.
She's mastered both fiery responses and subtle shade, and gone up against well-known musicians like Miley Cyrus, Lil' Kim and most recently, Cardi B. While some feuds have been now put to rest, others continue to thrive and reignite. Here are a handful of Minaj's most famous quarrels.
Nicki Minaj vs. Cardi B
The bad blood between these two rappers began after they collaborated on the Migos track "MotorSport" in early 2018. In May, Minaj expressed during an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music's Beats 1 show that Cardi showed her "no genuine love" and acted ungrateful towards her during their time working together. Cardi later tried to clear the air, telling Howard Stern on his Sirius XM show that she was "never feuding with anybody, there was a misunderstanding."
The two rappers seemed to be on good terms at the 2018 Met Gala, even taking pictures together. "I spoke to her at the Met Gala about it, and it's just like, see?" Cardi told Stern. "It's just something that had to be talked about because it was an issue."
Cardi was reluctant to talk about what caused all the drama, but did admit that she too had hurt feelings.
"I'm not gonna talk about it, but I really feel a certain type of way," she stressed. "My feelings was really hurt, and I was just on some, 'You know what? This is why I just keep to myself. This is why I cannot f**k with nobody.'"
But things appeared to have turned south on Sept. 7, when Cardi got in a physical fight with Minaj at the Harper's Bazaar ICONS party. An eyewitness at the event told ET that the rappers battled it out at around 11:30 p.m. ET, when Cardi approached Minaj in the hotel's hallway. The eyewitness claimed that Cardi tried to "kick and punch" Minaj, whose security quickly created a barricade between the two women. According to ET's eyewitness, Cardi then threw one of her shoes at Minaj, and was escorted out of the event.
Cardi later took to Instagram to seemingly comment on the incident, though she didn't name names. "I've let a lot of sh*t slide! I let you sneak diss me, I let you lie on me, I let you attempt to stop by bags, f**k up the way I eat!" she wrote. "You’ve threaten other artists in the industry, told them if they work with me you'll stop f**kin with them!! I let you talk bug sh*t about me!! I addressed you once in person, I addressed you a second time in person, and every time you copped the plea!!"
Nicki Minaj vs. Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott
Minaj had it out for Scott after his album, Astroworld, was deemed No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart following the release of Minaj's album, Queen, in August. The "Anaconda" hip hop artist accused Scott of using girlfriend Jenner's fame to promote his new music.
“I put my blood sweat and tears into writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her and Stormi," she tweeted. "lol. I'm actually laughing."
She also had a problem with him selling merchandise and tickets for his upcoming tour with album downloads and having those count as album sales.
"What we're not gonna do is have that auto-tune man selling f**king sweaters telling you he sold half a million albums, because he f**king didn't," Minaj exclaimed on Queen Radio on Apple Music's Beats 1, referring to the 26-year-old rapper.
She then went after Jenner, adding, "You stupid f**k. You got your f**king homeboy talking for you and you got your girlfriend selling tour passes. Stop it. Knock it the f**k off."
A week later, Minaj clarified that she had nothing but love for Jenner, adding that she couldn't knock her for standing by her man. The beef seems to have settled between the three for now.
Nicki Minaj vs. Lil' Kim
Two rap queens trying to rule the same land. The rivals have taken thinly veiled shots at one another through their records over the years, most notably in 2011, when Kim released "Black Friday" -- an obvious play on Minaj's debut album title, Pink Friday -- calling Minaj a "Lil' Kim clone" and a "wannabe."
As for Minaj, her songs "Roman's Revenge," "Tragedy," "Y.U. Mad," "Stupid Hoe" and "I Am Your Leader" are all thought to be about Kim.
In 2012, Kim addressed their issues in an interview with iHeartRadio's The Breakfast Club and once again accused Minaj of copying her, and not showing her proper respect.
"The problem with her is she was very catty about it," Kim said. "I never had a problem with her. I was always nice with her. She was a very obnoxious person."
When talking to ET in June, Kim took a cue from Mariah Carey infamously talking about Jennifer Lopez and said she didn't "know" Minaj.
"You know, Cardi is my girl! I don't know the other one," Kim pointedly told ET. "But Cardi is my girl and so I'm so excited for my girl Cardi. I can't wait for her to have the baby. I love you, Cardi!"
But in August, Kim appeared to have put the drama behind her, but did take a dig at Minaj calling herself "Queen."
"God bless [Nicki], I wish her the best," she said during a radio interview with Real 92.3. "She did what she did, until she’s ready, hopefully, God puts it on her mind to do the right thing because she knows what she did. Once that happens, hopefully everyone will stop asking me."
"I don’t really care about that either. I was named [queen], I never named myself that. It’s a difference," Kim said. "When the streets name you that, Biggie named me that. I didn’t name myself that. When you gotta name yourself, that’s a whole different thing, I would never name myself that.”
Nicki Minaj vs. Taylor Swift
The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards sparked this clash between the two artists. Prior to the telecast, Minaj had called out MTV for snubbing "Anaconda" in the Video of the Year category because she was a "different 'kind' of artist." (Different, in this case, meant not skinny and white.) Swift took offense and tweeted that it was "unlike" Minaj to "put women against each other." Minaj subsequently wrote Swift back, "U must not be reading my tweets. Didn't say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this."
Swift eventually apologized, explaining that she "missed the point," then misspoke. Minaj then revealed that Swift called her to settle any misunderstandings.
"First of all, I talked to Taylor Swift yesterday on the phone," she revealed during her appearance on Good Morning America at the time. "She was super, super, sweet, and she apologized. She said, 'You know, look, I didn't understand the big picture of what you were saying, but now I get it.' So, we're all good."
Minaj then invited the singer to join her during the actual VMA show to poke fun at the brief feud.
Nicki Minaj vs. Miley Cyrus
Never forget Minaj calling out the former Disney Channel star at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. Minaj struck the fear of God into VMA host Cyrus as she accepted the award for Best Hip-Hop Video early on in the ceremony, putting Cyrus on blast for calling her "not too kind" in an interview with the New York Times.
"And now, back to this b**ch that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press," Minaj seethed from the podium. "Miley, what's good?"
As Cyrus attempted to respond, accusing the media of manipulating her words, Minaj could be seen mouthing "Don't play with me, b**ch."
Minaj continued to address her and Cyrus' differences in an interview with the New York Times in October of 2015.
"The fact that you feel upset about me speaking on something that affects black women makes me feel like you have some big balls. You're in videos with black men, and you're bringing out black women on your stages, but you don't want to know how black women feel about something that's so important?" Minaj passionately expressed. "Come on, you can't want the good without the bad. If you want to enjoy our culture and our lifestyle, bond with us, dance with us, have fun with us, twerk with us, rap with us, then you should also want to know what affects us, what is bothering us, what we feel is unfair to us. You shouldn't not want to know that."
The two appear to have since put the past behind them.
Nicki Minaj vs. Mariah Carey
In January 2013, rumors spread that Minaj cussed out Carey on the American Idol set, which led to Carey sending a statement to Barbara Walters claiming that Minaj was overheard saying, "If I had a gun I would shoot that b**ch." Minaj denied this accusation.
Carey claimed she had heightened her security after Minaj allegedly mentioned that she wanted shoot up the place. This inevitably led to Minaj going on a Twitter rant, slamming Idol producers, Walters and her fellow female Idol judge.
The two, however, were cordial while promoting the 12th season during the Television Critics Association press tour. "This is a very passionate panel," Carey said. "I think there are a lot of strong personalities and starting this process, I thought it was a possibility there could be differences of opinions. The fighting is what it is. This is American Idol, it's bigger than all that. It's bigger than some stupid trumped up thing. It's about the next superstar."
"We're professionals," Minaj said when asked how they buried the hatchet. "Haven't you ever had an argument with someone you work with?"
Both ended up departing the show after that season. In 2016, during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen asked Carey if she could say three nice things about Minaj.
After a comically long pause, the "Heartbreaker" songstress replied, "Can you?" We're assuming they won't rekindle their friendship any time soon.
While things play out between Minaj's most recent rival, Cardi, we know this isn't the last of Minaj's famous feuds. For more on Minaj, watch the video below.
RELATED CONTENT:
