If you have any social media presence, you’ve likely heard about the drama that occurred last week with two of the biggest women in rap: Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj. And if you were anything like me, you were probably very confused about where this all started. Lucky for you, I did the research so you don’t have to.
On Jan. 26, Megan released a new single called “Hiss,” where she calls out a variety of people: people who have used her name for clicks, who have slandered her, and those who have discredited her impact in the rap industry. No specific names are mentioned, but listeners quickly theorized about who she may be talking about.
The song starts with Megan directly talking to the people who’ve wronged her and mentions her desire to put this issue to rest, spitting the words “I just wanna say f*ck y’all… I’m finna get this sh*t off my chest and lay it to rest.” What proceeds is a fiery three-minute track with plenty of memorable lyrics, too many to list in this one article.
But one that stood out the most to fans was the following line: “These h*es don’t be mad at Megan, these h*es mad at Megan’s Law.” For context, Megan’s Law is a federal law enacted in 1996 that requires the sex offender registry to be publicly accessible. It was named after Megan Tanka, who was raped and murdered by her neighbor shortly before the law was introduced. The offender’s sexual assault conviction prior to Tanka went unnoticed in the neighborhood due to his name not being on the registry.
Again, no names are mentioned. But fans were quick to assume that the line was a dig at Nicki Minaj. Nicki, real name Onika Miraj, has been under fire in recent years for marrying Kenneth Petty, a man charged with attempted first-degree rape of a 16-year-old girl in 1995, subsequently spending four and a half years in prison. In 2023, Petty was sentenced to one year of house arrest for violating his probation by not registering his name on the sex offender registry when he moved to California with Minaj in 2019. She has come to his defense countless times, claiming that convicted rapists (maybe just her convicted rapist) should be forgiven and should not have the charge held against them. The law also affects one of Nicki’s brothers, who was also convicted of sexual assault.
Nicki was quick to respond. She immediately began ranting on X (formerly Twitter) and also took to Instagram live, where she spent hours babbling to herself, calling Megan names like “fragment foot b*tch.” This is a direct reference to the highly publicized trial where Megan accused fellow rapper Tory Lanez of shooting her in the foot following a party at Kylie Jenner’s house in 2020. She was ridiculed by fellow rappers and the public, accused of lying about the situation. Drake and 21 Savage even commented on the situation in their 2022 collaboration “Circo Loco,” where Drake raps, “This b*tch lie about getting shots, but she still a stallion.”
Nicki showed clips of her recording in the studio, and within days she had released “Bigfoot,” an attempt to directly call out Megan while only making herself somehow look even worse than she already did. She essentially repeats the tweets she had been making over the last few days, throwing multiple digs at Megan including insulting her body, questioning her rap ability, and accusing her of “lying on her dead mama” (Megan’s mother died of brain cancer back in 2019).
There have yet to be any updates since then, but the story is still a hot topic on social media, with dozens of memes coming out about Nicki’s unhinged reaction while simultaneously praising Megan’s lyricism and maturity. It seems Nicki’s fans are in the minority, and they have responded by doxxing multiple people who have called out her recent behavior, which Nicki has stayed silent about.
With all the current drama out of the way, you might be wondering: why were these songs even released to begin with? Why did Megan throw the first punch? In all actuality she did anything but.
Until 2020, Megan and Nicki had a great professional relationship; they spoke very highly of one another, and Nicki even collaborated with Megan on a remixed version of her hit song “Hot Girl Summer.” The feud seems to have started in August 2020 when Megan collaborated with fellow rapper Cardi B on the song we all know and love, “WAP.” Nicki and Cardi have a long complicated history that goes all the way back to 2017, and it appears that Megan’s collaboration with Cardi upset her, leading her to unfollow Megan on social media in 2021.
She then proceeds to throw subtle digs at Megan in various songs, although there has never been any proof that any of the lines were about Megan. Nicki then accused Megan of “forcing alcohol down her throat” when she was pregnant and encouraging her to get an abortion. Megan has not commented much on this but has vehemently denied it, responding to a tweet about the issue simply with the word “LIE.” Nicki continued to rap lyrics that were seemingly about Megan, who stayed silent until last week.
The release of “Bigfoot” actually backfired for Nicki: when she released her own diss track, streams for Megan’s song rose 60%, contributing to its number-one debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Now, countless of Nicki’s fans are jumping ship. All over social media, you will find videos and posts about how they can no longer defend Nicki and have stopped calling themselves Barbz (aka Nicki’s fanbase name).
The feud between Nicki and Megan goes much deeper than music: it is a prime example of the impossibly high standards women face in the entertainment industry and the world at large. Even as a victim, Megan has faced vicious bullying on the internet, and “Hiss” was an effective attempt at reclaiming her power as one of the best artists currently in the game. Nicki perpetuates sexist stereotypes and double standards in her diss track, like accusing Megan of lying about the Tory Lanez incident solely because she did not get emotional in her interview with Gayle King and even slut shaming her for allegedly sleeping with a lot of men. Nicki’s consistent history of fighting with other women in the rap game shows that there is a deep issue of internalized misogyny, seemingly taking on the sexist belief that there cannot be more than one successful female rapper. You’d think the self-proclaimed “Queen of Rap” would be pro-woman, unfortunately, she is anything but. Instead of taking younger artists under her wing, she disses them to keep her spot at the top. “Bigfoot” has done the exact opposite of what she intended, leading to more and more people seeing Nicki for who she really is. Ironically, it seems that she has shot herself in the foot.