Recently, Megan Thee Stallion reiterated her belief that beef between female rappers is often instigated by fans in online stan wars after calling out another group responsible for plenty of the friction between women in hip-hop: the press. “Countless times, people have tried to pit me against Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, two incredible entertainers and strong women,” she wrote in a 2020 op-ed for The New York Times. “I’m not ‘the new’ anyone; we are all unique in our own ways.”
Over the weekend, another example of this phenomenon popped up, courtesy of another Big Apple-based publication, The New York Post. Seizing on a search optimization opportunity provided by Nicki’s Video Vanguard Award at the then-upcoming MTV VMAs, the Post published a history of Nicki’s feuds. However, the story included one iffy addition, Iggy Azalea, who was quick to call out the publication on Twitter in response to its link tweet. Seeing that the featured art for the story included Iggy, Cardi B, Mariah Carey, and Miley Cyrus, Iggy wondered, “Why am I on this? We’ve never said anything bad about one another. Y’all weird.”
https://twitter.com/IGGYAZALEA/status/1563997205198938116
Of course, a Barb account tried to offer video evidence of her dissing Nicki in the form of an old video interview in which Iggy was asked to choose between Cardi and Nicki’s music. In the video, which appears to be from 2018, when media were actively stoking a competition between the two rappers, who both dropped albums that year, Iggy admits that the reporter has put her in a tough position but honestly answers that she likes Cardi’s records more. Surprisingly, though, it was another Barb account that shut the instigator down, writing, “She didn’t pick based off ‘beef’ she picked off music she vibed the most that year…please be fr.”
Iggy replied graciously to her defender, writing, “That part. I can like whatever music i want lmaoooooooooo. A song is a song, I’m not part of y’all weirdo wars lol.”
https://twitter.com/IGGYAZALEA/status/1564035911490338819
So, yeah, the fans and the media both contribute to conflicts between female rappers — who, to be fair, sometimes just genuinely don’t like each other — and a lot of times, they’re just stretching the truth to fit a convenient narrative for attention. It’s okay to let more than one woman be successful in hip-hop, as we’re seeing right now. But that probably won’t stop fans fighting for their faves. Let’s just all do it responsibly, without resorting to putting down others.
