New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is one of the most glamorous, dazzling and memorable weeks that fashion has to offer. Designers debut their latest collections, Hadid and all her clones are running around NYC like they own the place (because TBH, they kind of do) and fabulous late-night parties are the place to be. But this year, NYFW was encapsulated by an event that shook the world even harder than the newest neon trend: the Nicki Minaj/Cardi B war.
How it all started
Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s feud finally reached a climax with a physical altercation during the Harper’s Bazaar ICONS party during NYFW. And in case you haven’t heard, this isn’t the first time the two female rappers have butted their Fashion Nova heads.
It started as early as May of 2017 when Minaj seemingly called out Cardi B in her feature in Swish Swish by Katy Perry. This came out around the time Cardi was rising to fame and apparently encroaching on Minaj’s once untouchable best female-rapper status. Perry’s song was the first but definitely not the last song Minaj used to allegedly shade Cardi B.
In London on da Track’s song White Flag, one of Minaj’s lines says, “I heard these labels are trying to make another me.” Like most people, I wondered what was going to come out of this beef between two of the most talented and successful female rappers. Everyone had to pick a side: Nicki or Cardi.
The plot thickens
Things seemed to come to pass when the two were seen together at the Met Ball together back in May. We all thought things were better and that we could finally have two queens of rap. Boy, were we wrong!
Details of the fight between the two rappers aren’t very clear except for the fact that Cardi approached Nicki, which ended in a fight that included a shoe being thrown and Cardi being escorted out of the party with a giant bruise over her left eye. Later, Cardi explained that the straw that broke the camel’s back was the long-reigning female rapper’s diss directed at her baby, Kulture.
Here’s the thing: Rappers and celebrities have beef with each other all the time. Look at Drake and Meek Mill or Taylor Swift and Katy Perry! What is especially interesting about Cardi B and Nicki Minaj’s beef is Minaj’s peculiar behavior.
Since the release of Starships in 2012, Minaj has been known for having an IDGAF attitude even though she secretly is a good person. However, lately her standoffish, curt and crude attitude has been getting her a lot of negative press. It made me wonder, what is going on with Nicki Minaj?
Although Minaj insists that she said nothing about Kutlure, she is not the only child she has supposedly trashed lately. When her latest album, Queen, came up second behind Travis Scott’s Astroworld, Minaj took to social media to call out Scott’s baby mama, Kylie Jenner, for helping him with sales by dressing up their child in Astroworld merchandise.
What’s going on, Nicki?
Where is all this negative press coming from? Is Minaj so threatened by another successful woman that she has to assert her dominance?
For anyone that has been so untouchable and at the top of her career for over six years, there comes a time of adjustment when your future success seems to be infringed on. However, as a fan, I have neglected to see that part of her success has come from tearing other people, especially women, down.
Webster Dictionary defines feminism as “the advocacy of women’s rights based on the notion that all women and men can be equal in all aspects.” Unfortunately, while she’s been fighting the good fight for men and women to be equal in rap, she has forgotten to advocate for other women in her field.
Minaj’s self-proclaimed empowerment promoted in “Queen” is quite ironic when you think about her thinly veiled attempt to cover up her insecurities by lifting herself up. As her façade of half-baked feminism cracks, her lack of self-confidence is exposed. It seems like she belittles any woman who doesn’t fawn over her, which is childish and unbecoming.
She also recently announced that rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine would join her on her upcoming tour, which left a lot of fans wondering why she wouldn’t bring along another female rapper for a tour called Queen. Seems like a missed opportunity. It makes me wonder if Minaj is more into herself and the money than giving rising rappers like Asian Doll a chance to be introduced to the stage.
Can we really call it feminism if you only advocate for yourself? Maybe that was why the album didn’t stick as well as her earlier albums. I leave you with this: Someone who actually wants to see women succeed and be just as equal as men wouldn’t only turn their feminism light switch on when it’s convenient for them.