By: Josey Spiers
Has Nicki Minaj’s Rap Throne toppled due to her continued support of suspected pedophilic men? To answer this let’s start by examining the ongoing feud between Nicki Minaj and Meghan Thee Stallion that led to the uncovering of Minaj’s troubling history.
The feud began with the January 25th debut of Meghan’s single “Hiss”. The song included the line, “These h*es mad at Meghan’s Law” referencing the federal law requiring information about sex offenders to be public knowledge. Nicki and Barbz (Nicki Minaj stans) took this line as a direct diss of Nicki’s husband, Kenneth Petty, a convicted sex offender for the attempted rape in the first degree of a 16-year-old girl in April 1995. Additionally, Petty received a 3-year probation sentence in 2022 for failing to register as a sex offender in the state of California in 2020. Immediately, Nicki jumped on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram Live to defend Petty while teasing her own diss track “Bigfoot” about Meghan that was dropping soon. Some Barbz became concerned that Nicki was using substances due to the erratic frantic messages and frequency of the lives and tweets.
On January 28th, Nicki’s single “Bigfoot” debuted as a direct callout to Meghan with multiple name drops. Minaj made many references to Meghan’s mother who passed away in 2019 from brain cancer with the lines, “cause she was lying on your dead momma”, “conjure up your mother and apologize, that’s disgusting”, and “swearing on your dead mother when you lie”. Nicki also criticized Meghan’s struggle associated with losing her mother and grandmother in the same month with the line, “How you go on Gayle King and can’t cry?” referencing Meghan’s appearance on Gayle King’s show to talk about her depression. In direct response to the “Meghan’s Law” line, Nicki speculated Meghan gets free song features through giving sexual favors. Minaj also referenced Meghan being shot in the foot by Tory Lanez with the lines, “she like six foot I call her Bigfoot. The b*tch fell off, I said ‘Get up on your good foot’” and “you get shot with no scar?”. Minaj also referenced Meghan’s ex-boyfriend, Pardison Fontaine, song line of the claim that Meghan got liposuction and started posting gym pictures. Nicki claimed that the reason Meghan was dissing Petty was due to never being loved before and that Petty being a sex offender was old news. Nicki said Meghan had an “evil spirit” for fraternizing with her best friend's ex-boyfriend behind her back. Minaj finished the song by claiming she went easy on Meghan, but if she says anything Nicki will drop 5 bonus tracks of “Bigfoot” exposing Meghan and effectively burying her career.
Now let’s take a look at the past feuds and sex offender associations involving Nicki Minaj and Meghan Thee Stallion. Nicki’s brother, Jelani Maraj, was sentenced to 25 to life in 2020 for predatory sexual assault for repeatedly raping his 11-year-old step-daughter. In 2009, Minaj did her first feature with Jeffree Starr on “Lollipop Luxury”. Starr has a slew of sexual predator allegations against him and has been vocal in his support for Nicki amid this feud. Later in 2009, Nicki was featured on Lil Twist’s song “Old Enough'' which describes an intimate forbidden (illegal) relationship. The song includes the lines from Nicki’s verse, “And when you get it, don’t be telling where you got it from”, “I know you young but you know I like that young money”, and “Cause if we hit it, I might have to charge you for the feature”. During the release of “Old Enough'', Minaj was 26 and Lil Twist was 16. Barbz have raised concerns about Minaj’s sour affiliations, and the effect it could have on the rappers' mental health. Drake has publicly supported Nicki in this feud and has a past beef with Meghan involving her shooting. Drake mentioned Meghan in his song “Circo Loco'' with the double entendres, “This b*tch lie about getting shots, but she still a stallion” calling Meghan out for lying about getting shot in the foot or getting liposuction. Drake has a known public history of allegedly getting involved with underage girls, even groping a 17-year-old girl on stage and texting 14-year-old Millie Bobbie Brown about boys. The last notable figure involved with Nicki and Meghan is Cardi B. This beef started over Cardi’s breakout fame, which Barbz used to create a divide between the two women from the perceived threat to Nicki’s Rap Crown. In September 2018, the beef turned physical when Cardi threw a shoe at Micki over the latter's passive aggressive comments about the “Motorsport” features. Since then Cardi has become close friends with Meghan, even collaborating on “WAP” and “Bongos”.
On to what determines the success of a single, the charts namely, Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. As of now, Meghan’s “Hiss” has been on the Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks, peaking at number 1 for debut, and now comfortably sitting at number 13. Also, “Hiss” debuted at number 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Nicki’s “Bigfoot” did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, but opened at number 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Did Meghan Thee Stallion unintentionally perform a coup of Nicki Minaj’s Rap Empire? It’s up to you to decide if this scandal broke the Rap Crown for Nicki.
I stay up to date with Pop Culture so you don’t have to. Stay tuned for the next installment.