Oct. 13 was a hectic night for Twitter after rappers Nicki Minaj and Latto got into a pretty heated argument. In what started as Minaj’s criticizing the Recording Academy’s decision to move her “Super Freaky Girl” track out of the rap category of the Grammys has now erupted into a series of tweets, receipts, and a recorded phone call of a verbal fight between the two artists. Get ready, because we’re about to dive into the full rundown of what led to the Nicki and Latto beef, and see what Twitter makes of the online altercation.
Minaj posted a tweet on Oct. 13 where she called out the Grammys for moving her latest track “SFG” into the pop category after she submitted it into the rap division in August 2022. In her tweet, she called out the Recording Academy for not being fair with this decision, claiming that Latto’s track “Big Energy” should have been nominated under the pop category as well.
She then took to Instagram, posting a 17-minute video where she explained her reasoning further, calling out what she believes was the Recording Academy’s effort to control their agenda. She talked about how the track has stayed number one on the Billboard Hot Rap charts for eight weeks in a row, adding, “If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention. But why is the goalpost only ever moved when it’s Nicki? Well, I’ll tell you why. They don’t want the people that they have in the industry to go up against me.”
Minaj then retweeted a tweet that showcased Latto referencing her own track as a “pop song,” and this is where their exchange took a downward turn. Minaj posted a now-deleted screenshot of a message between the two rappers where Latto stated that she agreed with her logic, but that she didn’t think she needed “to bring up my name/song to prove [a] point.”
She then went on to refer to Latto as a “Karen,” calling out the rapper for mentioning her in countless interviews and making it publicly known that she has idolized Minaj for many years. Minaj claimed that “today, scratch off decides to be silent; rather than speak up for the black woman she called her biggest inspiration.” Latto didn’t appreciate this tweet at all, subtweeting Minaj and claiming that she didn’t want to take their conversation to the internet as she’s always admired her and not appreciating the way she went about things.
Latto then mentioned Minaj in another separate tweet, stating that she’s ignored her shady subtweets and always wanted to handle things privately. The last sentence of her tweet may have been the added fuel to the fire that set this whole Twitter exchange into a series of back and forth flames, with Latto stating, “[You’re] literally older than my mom [trying to] be a bully @NICKIMINAJ.”
The two rappers then began going back and forth, showing screenshots of past tweets and screenshots showing evidence of their claims of shady behavior. Latto referred to Minaj as a #40yroldbully, and Minaj claimed that Latto was upset with her because she had turned down requests to feature on her tracks, criticizing her album sales for Latto’s freshman project 777.
Their exchange went on for hours throughout the morning leading into Oct. 14, and things got even more heated (if that was possible) when Latto alleged Minaj was “married AND related to f***ing r******.” Minaj then pointed out instances of hypocrisy in Latto’s claim, pointing out other higher-up officials that she had worked with that have allegations of misconduct and abuse against them as well.
The two rappers then apparently hopped on a phone call together, with Latto posting two videos of their conversation for Twitter to listen in on. That was the final time that Latto tweeted back to Minaj, and the whole fiasco has left Twitter shaken and split to say the least. Let’s take a look at some of the best tweets reacting to the Minaj and Latto beef.