Nicki Minaj’s Barbz Are Posting Some Dramatic Reactions To Her Retirement

For as long as she held the crown for women in hip-hop, Nicki Minaj could always count on the ever loyal support of her “Barbz,” the fan club-slash-bully brigade who helped her promotions go viral and lashed out at any critics of their Queen. Today, though, she announced that she was trading in her royal throne for family life and the news has had a reverberating effect on social media — in other words, the Barbz are shook.

The top trending topics as of this writing not only include “Nicki Minaj” but also “Onika,” Nicki’s real first name, which her fans affectionately use for her in moments of exasperation. The reactions range from mild annoyance to outright panic, with fans offering observations, opinions, and jokes both praising and deriding Nicki’s decision.

https://twitter.com/samanthabitch9/status/1169693450641510401

One fan even resorted to outright denial, using Nicki’s preponderance of nicknames and alter egos to argue that the 34-year-old performer can have her cake and eat it too: “We got to remember only Nicki Minaj is retiring,” wrote @Johnnique3, “She ain’t say anything about Roman, The Harajuku Barbie, Nicki The ninja, Nicki the Barbie, Nicki the boss, Chun Li, Nicki Lewinsky, Nicki Teresa, Cookie, The female Weezy, Martha Zolanski, and Onika Maraj.”

https://twitter.com/Johnnique3/status/1169691342567555077

Some of the reactions weren’t quite as nice, with an airy, “good riddance” vibe to them, while K-pop fans — arguably the only group more ubiquitous than the Barbz, with plenty of overlap between them — joked that Nicki felt threatened by the return of girl group Loona, despite occupying a totally different musical lane.

https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/1169685323250634754
https://twitter.com/4jinsouI/status/1169678193323851776

Whether the reactions were good, bad, or chaotic neutral, collectively they made one fact undeniably clear: Nicki Minaj is retiring as one of hip-hop’s most popular, polarizing, and impactful figures, and any move she makes is worthy of discussion. Check out more fan reactions below.

https://twitter.com/iconkathiana/status/1169692237418119169

https://twitter.com/carlyafisher/status/1169694110506266627

https://twitter.com/saliorscoutlex/status/1169678565086040068

https://twitter.com/SowmyaK/status/1169681059744768000

https://twitter.com/DisneyAriel9/status/1169695916137357312