The latest brawl between two of hip-hop’s biggest female artists, Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj has devolved into some passionate yet ridiculous disses from both parties. This beef happened online, with Minaj using her profile on the social media website X (formally Twitter) to voice her thoughts on the situation, while Megan released a diss track without offering any further comments. Despite the two trading insults in this event, they have collaborated in the past with their relationship fairly stable until recently. Between Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, the drama was stirred with controversial lyrics, with both dropping diss tracks in 4 days, furthering the already heightened drama to continue into February.
The beef began with Megan Thee Stallion and her song “Hiss” delivering the line “You … not mad at Megan, you … mad at Megan’s Law.” This line refers to Megan’s Law, a requirement for authorities to inform the public about convicted sex offenders living around them, typically through publicly accessible registries. The question arises: Why would Megan Thee Stallion diss Nicki Minaj? For this feud to make sense, a dive into Nicki’s life and the people she surrounds herself with is necessary.
Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty started dating in 2018 with a wedding shortly after in 2019. The relationship between Nicki and Kenneth has drawn outrage from both fans and enemies alike as Kenneth is a registered sex offender, convicted for the statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl in 1995. Additionally, he was also convicted of murder and spent time in prison for manslaughter for seven years in 2002 according to Hollywood Life.
Continuing the line of Nicki surrounding herself with perpetrators of sexual crimes, Minaj’s brother Jelani was convicted of predatory sexual assault after he had repeatedly assaulted his 11-year-old stepdaughter. As a brother, Minaj described Jelani as “the most patient, gentle, genuine, giving, selfless man” in a statement to the judge on behalf of her brother and his charges, according to Page Six. In addition to her brother and her husband, Nicki has collaborated several times with rapper 6ix9ine, producing the songs “FEFE”, “MAMA”, and “TROLLZ”. This rapper had pled guilty to using a thirteen-year-old in a sexual performance in 2015, while later being arrested for racketeering and firearm charges. After seeing the abundance of charges against the people Nicki collaborates with, dates, and has children with, it is no wonder she thought the line in Megan’s single was about her.
Conversely, Minaj has had no shortage of throwing disses at Megan. Minaj’s song “Big Foot,” was released on January 28, 2024, with Minaj opening the first verse by criticizing Megan’s ‘flow’ while calling her “Big Foot,” hence the track name, in the second verse. Minaj then mentions Megan’s late mother, who died of brain cancer in March 2019. In addition, Minaj describes the Tory Lanez shooting from 2020 in which Megan was shot in the foot by Tory Lanez. She discredits Megan’s situation by rapping “How you get shot with no scar?” making Megan seem like a poser. Minaj’s disses received mixed reactions from the audience, with some of her most dedicated fans praising the song while others called it out for having no rhythm and a lot of rambling. Neutral audiences have seemingly sided with Megan, describing Nicki both as childish and a subpar rapper due to her attacks on Megan’s body and experiences, not so much of Megan’s attitude and character.
In her X posts, Minaj continues her attacks against Megan’s physical features by commenting on her height and big feet. Veering to attacks on character, Minaj alleges that Megan fabricated details surrounding the shooting incident with Tory Lanez several different times, including her 2022 interview with Gayle King where she candidly expressed her fear for her life during the incident. In the line “then you went lying to the King, Gayle” Minaj adds that despite retelling a traumatic moment in Megan’s life, she shed not a single tear. Minaj argues that Megan deliberately misled the public during the interview, trying to gain sympathy through the misfortune she experienced, along with the death of her mother. The unified idea woven throughout the track is that Megan, while trying to gain sympathy for herself in the public eye proves herself to be deceitful, evidenced by the amount of lies Minaj throws at her. Through this idea, it is conveyed that Megan is willing to throw away the relationship she has with her mom if it means more fame and money. In the second verse, Minaj claims that Pardison Fontaine, Megan’s ex-boyfriend, wrote as a ghostwriter for her, writing material for her while also claiming that Megan had relations with the boyfriend of her best friend, Kelsey Harris.
The feud between the rappers leveled up, with the grave of Megan’s mother needing added security from threats shared on social media, originating from Nicki fan accounts. The cemetery where Megan thee Stallion’s mother, Holly Thomas, is buried has increased the number of patrols in the cemetery itself “and around the neighboring area as a deterrent to anyone who is considering doing something very, very stupid,” says Chad Rogers, the public information officer with the Pearland Police Department. The drama has been blown out of proportion, with fans encouraging both the damage and vandalism of Thomas’s grave as well as releasing the location of the grave.
With a glance at the current drama as well as the reactions, the audience has crowned Megan Thee Stallion as the winner. Opinions coming from various social media platforms convey the notion that neutral listeners feel like Nicki Minaj went too far in her remarks, touching on the very traumatic moments of Megan’s life while also just criticizing Megan’s body and its attributes. This raises the question: What might be the impact on their careers once this situation subsides? The reputation of Minaj has been damaged intensely but with both Minaj and her husband in their forties, the couple might choose to step out of the public eye and raise their child away from the madness of the music industry. Facing off against the artist commonly known as the “queen of rap”, Megan will need to establish herself in the future, making it known that there is space for more than one female rapper.
