Nicki Minaj got to the nitty gritty about her hitch with female rappers, clearing up all the confusion.
In light of the rapper dropping her fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2, the Young Money signee recently sat down with The Joe Budden Podcast host—Budden himself (episode available for his patrons only)— to discuss all things Nicki.
Clips surfaced online revealing the “Super Freaky Girl” star clarifying her contentious views on female rappers.
“And there’s a lot of female rappers that I really, really, really, actually love,” she shared with Budden. “Like, as an artist and as a person. And what I don’t want this to turn into honestly, even though I like being funny and stuff, I don’t want this to turn into bashing female rappers, to be honest. So, let me reel back for a second.”
The 41-year-old conversed about how numerous female rappers’ musicality inspired her.
“It’s female rappers right now that are even inspiring me,” she said. “Like, I’d hear bars and like, ‘Oh, woah.’ So, let me make sure I say that. And even their delivery and cadence and flows…I be like, ‘Woah.’ And the girls that I like as a friend too. So, I don’t want to make it seem like that…”
Budden interjected, reminding her she gave flowers to those who inspired her.
“Yeah, the women that inspired me before and the girls that I like that now are in the game that inspires me,” she said. “So, I just wanted to make sure I got that clear. So, when I say stuff about rappers or female rappers, I’m not talking about the female rappers I f—k with. And that’s just the truth, and I’m keeping it all the way real.”
Before this moment, Nicki was going in on new female rappers only to stop herself, collect her thoughts and clarify.
Before her thoughts in the aforementioned clip, Minaj voiced Juicy J’s sentiments about how rap used to be the prominent genre but decreased by 40%.
“I predicted that,” she said. “Remember the gatekeeping convos. Well, if you let everybody into the f—g gate…guess what? One day, you wake up, and there’s nothing but a pile of s—t ’cause everybody’s ‘eating.’ There’s no balance. There’s no gatekeeping.”
Nicki insinuated the industry now lets anybody become a rapper and call them great, leading to this pile of “s—t.”
“‘You’re great!’ No, they’re wack, and that’s okay,” she added.
She then said she wasn’t talking about all female rappers but new rappers. Budden then jumped in and said that her latest record comprised her claiming these “new b—s” can’t rap.
“New rappers are taking it as a game. As a joke,” she said. “They can’t [rap]. There’s a difference.”
Asked if she thought people expect “the modern female rappers” to write their own bars and deliver and execute them flawlessly, Nicki denied it.
“Not prior to Dec. 8, 2023,” the release date of Pink Friday 2.
Nicki has been vocal about her problem with new female rappers. In a rant on Queen Radio, the “Anaconda” hitmaker went off about the lack of respect she gets from newer, fellow female rappers.
“For some strange reason, it’s difficult for these women to treat me with the respect that matches the amount of years I’ve put in,” the 12-time Grammy nominee said.
Nicki has always been vocal about being a part of the conversation regarding great femcees, especially with her over-decade-long influence on the hip-hop industry.
So, it’s no surprise when the rapper feels a certain way when she’s held in the same regard as new-age rappers like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Let’s be honest: the early 2000s femcees that dominated hip hop were people like Eve, Missy Elliott, Trina, Lil Mama, Foxy Brown, Da Brat, Lil’ Kim and Nicki herself.
