Over the past decade and a half, Nicki Minaj has been known for a couple of things. Yes, she’s garnered a ton of attention for her colorful outfits, her outsized multiple personalities, and her shapeshifting rhyme styles. But we’re here for the other thing she’s notable for: Rap beef.
Almost as soon as she appeared on the scene, Nicki was either being pit against other rappers by fans (remember when they tried to make Jean Grae vs. Nicki a thing?) or by cirucumstance. In more recent years, she’s been the one picking all of her fights, but in any case, rap beef has become as much a part of her brand as the color pink and associations with Barbie.
We’re going to skip over a bunch because we don’t want to be here all week and because some were about as one-sided as it gets (Azealia Banks, etc.). Here’s a list of (almost) everyone Nicki Minaj has had beef with in her career.
Nicki Minaj vs. Cardi B
This is probably the biggest one, and the first of Nicki’s modern beefs, in which she appears to punch down more than up. We’ve broken this one down before but here’s the gist.
After Cardi B blew up in 2017 with “Bodak Yellow,” fans pushed hard to get the two rappers to either collab or diss each other. They did the former first, teaming up on Migos’ “Motorsport” late that year, but some scheduling conflicts and friction led to Nicki getting miffed at the new kid on the block and spending the next year sniping at Cardi for her perceived disrespect (this is a common thread in Nicki’s feuds, as you’ll see further down the page).
Unlike most of Nicki’s rivalries, this is the only one that culminated in violence, and since then, they’ve mostly waged war via proxies, like the United States and Russia in the ’80s.
Notable Tracks: “Motorsport.”
Nicki Minaj vs. City Girls
While one hasn’t exploded into outright hostilities, it’s been every bit as convoluted as the Queens rapper’s other vendettas. After JT tweeted that she “just don’t like Nicki” back in 2017, Nicki declared she would never work with City Girls. However, after a behind-the-scenes conversation (maybe they swapped Burn Books), she called a reset on their relationship, later employing JT on the “Super Freaky Girl” remix, leading to JT changing her tune and going after Cardi (Cold War tactics!).
Of course, helping Nicki to irritate Cardi only seemed to buy the Miami stars a few months of leniency, as she very quickly got into a heated back-and-forth with the other half of the duo, Yung Miami, on Twitter in May last year.
Notable Tracks: “Super Freaky Girl” Queen Mix.
Nicki Minaj vs. Latto
In 2022, Nicki Minaj recorded an incendiary episode of Queen Radio that led to two of her currently raging grudges with Latto and Megan Thee Stallion. Apparently taking offense to Latto’s assertion that women are currently thriving in rap, Nicki made it a point to throw the younger rapper under the bus.
However, Latto refused to take her insults lying down and has to date clapped back in a couple of songs, “Put It On Da Floor” and “Back Outside,” while Nicki supposedly issued her own diss on “Fallin 4 U.” Since then, it appears she’s assigned this beef to Ice Spice, who has made a few veiled references to “Put It On Da Floor” in her new music.
Notable Tracks: “Put It On Da Floor,” “Fallin 4 U,” “Back Outside.”
Nicki Minaj vs. Lil Kim
Before she was taking offense to every new girl getting love and not giving her credit, Nicki was being accused of doing the same by Lil Kim. It’s a little hard to hash out who actually started this one (thanks, Google, your new algorithm is great ), but basically, it was a reversal of Nicki’s reasoning with all the new women in rap.
While their beef has since simmered down (Lil Kim called Nicki a snake in 2017 and mentioned doing a Verzuz battle in 2021), Nicki has since included Kim in her assessment that pioneers deserve more credit for their influence.
Notable Tracks: “Black Friday“
Nicki Minaj vs. Megan Thee Stallion
Possibly the reason we’re all here today, Nicki has been going off on Megan on Twitter for about 72 hours as of this writing, dropping the song “Big Foot” and claiming all kinds of conspiracy theories (she also maybe has to let go of the “#1 on Apple” defense because if we break that one down, it’s not going to go well for her). We published a full timeline of their beef earlier today, but here’s a summary:
Megan and Nicki went from being collaborators to enemies after Nicki felt Meg’s joke about abortion was a step too far. Meg also worked with Cardi, a violation of Nicki’s apparent “choose a side” policy, and went on to continue doing her own thing without paying sufficient homage to Nicki. While it could be argued that Meg’s less influenced by Nicki than anyone else out these days, it was enough to prompt Megan to clap back with “Hiss,” prompting Nicki’s current aggressive spiral.
Notable tracks: “Ruby Da Sleeze,” “Hiss,” “Big Foot”
Nicki Minaj vs. Remy Ma
The last of Nicki’s “punching up” beefs, this one similarly revolved around an older rapper feeling disrespected by Nicki apparently stepping over her to find success. Remy Ma had a strong run in the mid-2000s with “Conceited” and “Lean Back,” but was incarcerated during Nicki’s early rise to fame. Feeling slighted by Nicki’s quick ascent (rap really is wrestling), she began “sneak dissing” the newer rapper before the two began trading salvos throughout 2017 (“Shether,” “No Frauds“.
Most recently, they appeared to have settled their dispute in November of last year, but with as mercurial as Nicki has proven in the past, there’s no telling how long that’ll be the case.
Notable Tracks: “No Frauds,” “Shether.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. .
