Nicki Minaj and Cardi B | 79

A listener note This episode has strong language. Matt, has anyone ever insulted or commented on or criticized your parenting. And by parenting I am talking about your dog. Obviously. Right. Of course, yes. You're the father to a very distressed Beautiful. Little girl named Truffles. Distressed is the perfect word for my dog. I told you once she always looks like she's going through a divorce. And that's exactly what it is.

Yeah. I think any critiques of my dog parenting is fully justified. I don't think anybody has ever critiqued me in a way that I was like, you know what? That is too far. You take that back. If anyone really wants to threaten me and get PETA involved, have at it. But yeah, I would say I'm a decent enough parent. But also any insults that I've gotten about my parenting are fully justified.

Well, I think that puts you in the minority because a lot of people get really fired up when their parenting is criticized in any way. And that is sort of the central issue of the feud we're going to talk about today.

So, to set the scene for you, it's September 2018 and Cardi B is in New York for Fashion Week. And on this particular night, she makes her way to the Harper's Bazaar Party at the Plaza Hotel. And it's quite the shindig. People are partying, they're having a good time. Christina Aguilera's performing. So you know, in the background of all of this, I just want

Yep, the chandeliers are shaking from the sound waves. Yes. I've actually got a picture of the dress that Cardi showed up in, if you could describe it for us. Oh, she's in like a floor length. Poofy red gown. Almost Gone with the Wind esque. If the salsa dancing emoji was in Gone with the Wind, that is exactly what she is wearing. But this is a little bit more formal than I would have thought for like Like a fashion week event.

Well, thank God you pointed that out because it really is important to emphasize that this is a classy event. Apparently, I guess it's at the plaza. This is a classy affair. So Cardi walks in, she looks great. She probably grabs herself a drink, she starts mingling, you know, she's very charismatic. But then at some point, she spots Nicki Minaj across the room. Nikki is in a tiger print gown.

And her hair is bleached blonde. Mm-hmm. Here's a picture of her, if you could describe it. I mean, this picture is so perfect because the look on her face is staring daggers at the camera. I don't know what the aggressive version of a smise is, but she looks like she is hunting. It's a glare. Yeah. And the dress is perfect for that attitude. She has this ruffled tiger print dress, strapless, shoulders.

And tits up to her chin. Or yeah, or out. Oh my god. Almost looks like it hurts. So at this point. These two have a little bit of a beef going on. Uh-huh. We're gonna get into all of it, but at this point of the story, the latest thing to happen is that Nikki reportedly liked a tweet about Cardi having poor mothering skills. Oh, this was back when Twitter likes were public. Twenty eighteen. Yeah. Likes are public. Ted Cruz is

liking porn from his official account. On nine eleven. On nine eleven. Who could forget? But yeah, she has liked a tweet and that set Cardi off. Right. And it might seem inconsequential to us, but if you remember anything from our previous feud between Cardi B and Tasha Kay. No one insults Cardi's parenting and gets away with it. Oh no, yeah. She's not gonna let that go. No. So when Cardi walks into the Plaza Hotel and sees Nikki, she starts

Seething. And then reportedly she takes off her platform sandal and literally chucks it at Nikki's head. Not the platform sandal. And then next thing you know. Cardi and Nikki and their entourages are in a shoving match. Allegedly, some fists are flying. And by the time everyone's separated, Cardi has a noticeable bump on her forehead. One celebrity site dubs the incident the shoe hurt round the world. Not the best. It's not quite Nancy Kerrigan getting whacked in the knee.

If you remember the whack herd round the world, I feel like it's something they use a lot, this phrase. But for the internet generation, the Cardi Nicky Fashion Week fight marks the real beginning of a battle not just between two rappers. but between their fans as well. It's the Barbs versus the Bartie gang. Bardie gang is what Cardi calls her fans. This is the first time I'm hearing of that phrase. The Bartie gang?

It's always fashion week. That's when the claws come out. The barbs are going after the Barty gang and vice versa. We'll see who comes out on top, if anyone. I can't wait.

From Wondery, I'm Sydney Battle. And I'm Matt Belisai. And this is Disney. So I'm gonna get it out of the way up top. Obviously, Nikki is a feudster. She is currently, as we're recording this podcast, going after Meg the Stallion again. Sure. And I'm sure by the time this comes out, she will have done Something else unhinged. Now, this feud is a prime example of a real beef between two people. So nothing manufactured.

There are intense fandoms and parasocial relationships galore. There are street politics and lyrics to dissect. There are careful considered plays in the media to throw shade and weaponize this feud, and then there are also Impulsive actions that throw all of that out the window. I'm sure their PR teams are like hanging on by a thread. No one hates themselves more than a celebrity publicist.

Very true. Probably the most ignored profession. Yep, and that happens a lot in this feud where everyone involved just kind of like, fuck it, I'm gonna do what I want. This is Nicki Minog. The start of this feud isn't really a feud at all. It's more of a rivalry, one that no one involved even asked for. Let me set the stage.

It's 2015, so we're about three years before the infamous fashion week fight. Okay. At this point, Nicki Minaj is at the top of her game. Her album, Pink Friday, has been out in the world for five years. But everyone's still singing super bass, especially white girls with ukuleles. No, not ukuleleys. 2015, everyone was Marnie Michaels. But yeah, needless to say, Nikki is insanely popular.

Across genres, across demographics, she's doing really well. But 2015 is also the year that Cardi B first shows up on MTV's Love and Hip Hop. She's an immediate breakout star. People just love her personality. Hardy has a lot of Riz. Sure. That success leads her to release her first mixtape the following year. It's called Gangsta Bitch Music, Volume One.

Beautiful name. Yeah. So she definitely started to lean more pop as she got bigger. Yeah. And this is when the comparisons between Cardi and Nikki first started to trickle out into the ether. Hardy's the new shiny thing in the rap scene, and people are interested in her. But to a lot of industry insiders, she feels like she takes up the same space as So obviously, Cardi A threat to Nikki's crap. At least in Nikki's mind. There can't possibly be room for both of them.

And to their credit, for the first couple years that Cardi's on the side As much as people try to pit them against each other, Nikki and Cardi don't engage. They're nothing but cordial. Yeah. Well, Cardi then releases. And the song does so well. The barbs spring into action.

Which if you've ever been on the receiving end of that action, that is scary. They're mobilizing. My friend pissed off the barbs and one of them DM'd her and was like, Where's your address? I'll come fight you. And my friend was like, I'm downtown. Why don't you come? And she goes, Okay, give me subway fare and my friend was like, You don't have two dollars and seventy five cents to take the train and compete my ass. That's like a fourteen year old. Yeah.

But not even the barbs can stop the inevitability of Cardi B. Bodak Yellow reaches number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. And this is actually the first time a solo female rap artist has achieved that. Lauren Hill's dooop, or that thing in nineteen ninety eight.

So pretty impressive. Well, so none of Nikki's songs made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100? None of them made it to number Notably, this is a goal that Nikki's been pursuing, but has repeatedly fallen short of for nearly a decade. Now it's clear, you know, Cardi is not just this new thing on the block, she's here to stay. So initially Nikki shows her support for Cardi. She's keeping things civil. Here's the tweet that she shares after Cardi achieves this. Nikki tweets.

Congratulations to fellow New Yorker. That's how she spells it. A record-breaking achievement. Bardi, this is the only thing that matters. Enjoy it. Some hearts emojis and at I am Cardi B. Very nice. Yeah. Very civil, ladies being ladies. I mean enjoy it can be uh seen as a little bit ominous. Wait, that's a good point. Yeah. Enjoy it. Yeah, that's a pretty good prediction because of course

That's all about to change. We can never have anything nice. So a month after Cardi releases Bodak Yellow, she also collaborates with her fiancé Offset, who's a part of the group Migos. They've got a new song called Motorsport, but there's one thing we should note here. Nikki is already rapping on the song. Oh. Yeah. So this song will be the first time that Nikki and Cardi are collaborating together, even if it's through another artist.

Right. Reportedly, there's some drama that goes down around this song. This is what the internet reports. First off, apparently Migos adds Cardi to the song without consulting Nikki. I was literally gonna ask. Ask, like, do they each know that the other person is on the song? No. Then, allegedly, Nikki has to change her verse of the song, and it's because

Cardi's label demands it. Demands that she changes it? Yes. And then when it comes time to film the music video, apparently Nikki and Cardi shoot all of their scenes separately. Some good old Kim Catral tactics. Yep. So at this point it's only whispered rumors that there's any real beef here. Nikki denies that there's any issue. She says that she knew Cardi was getting added to the song.

even gave her blessing and that the lack of scenes together was just a scheduling conflict. So she has an explanation for everything. They even both have the same hairdresser, so I guess they're like that's why the filming had to be staggered because this one woman had to do both of their hair, but I'm like, that wasn't in the budget? I guess not. But hey, I'll take her at her word. So Nikki doesn't want these headlines to keep circling, so she goes on Twitter and writes.

This, if you could read it for us. She says, Anything with my name on it gets approved by me. It can't even go on a streaming service without me hearing it and giving written approval. I was on the song with Quavo. No one else was on it. He called and asked if I think we should put Bardi on it. I said, okay, let's do it. The end. Migos weren't even on it yet, just Quavo. The conspiracy theories are just so tired. Relax, breathe. Imagine me not knowing who's on a subject.

Yeah, uh it seems like the lady doth protest too much. Yeah, she's doing a lot. I'm not sure if I believe it. Right. Then to make matters worse, Cardi also stays quiet. So at this point, Nikki is like going above and beyond to be like, there's no beef whatsoever. I'm not fighting with that girl. No. And everyone else involved is just. Mum's the word. But everybody's then just assuming, oh, because everybody else isn't commenting on it, there must be some beef.

Yeah, because Cardi doesn't come out and say that there's no beef between them. In fact, in an interview with Capital Extra Cardi says that the Nikki verse she initially heard was not the one that ended up on the final track, which adds fuel to the fire that Nikki did in fact Change her verse because of Cardi's involvement on the song. Here's Cardi. When I heard the track.

Or it's not the verse that is on right now. And um, you know, Quavo told me like to get on the song and I just felt like it's a perfect opportunity for me to be on a track that is somet that's big like them. Okay. I mean she seems to be Trying to play naith? Yeah, she's not doing anything to play up the beef, but she's also not downplaying any part of it. She's not helping Nikki's narrative at all. Yeah. I guess I'm just like, what's the big deal? Maybe this will help. So later

It comes out that Cardi's label, Atlantic Records, pressured Nikki into changing her verse because Nikki name-dropped Cardi. Oh, okay. The original line was: I'm with a couple bad bitches that'll rip the the party if Cardi the Q B I'm Nick Lombardi. Do you understand any of that? I was just about to say I'm gonna need a translator on this one. So Vince Lombardi is an NFL coach, very successful, and Nikki is taking his last name, giving it to herself, calling herself Nick Lombardi.

and calling Cardi the quarterback. So if we think about how team dynamics work. She's saying she's the coach and Cardi's the quarterback. Right. So basically she's in control and Cardi listens. Okay, yeah, I could see why that might be upsetting, even though she does preface it by saying, I'm with a couple bad bitches. Yeah, but I feel like people around party were like, well, that's disrespectful. So if you're wondering what the lyrics in the final song are

They're essentially the same except Nikki swapped in Quavo's name for Cardi. Sure. I did read like the genius explanation of the lyrics, and it's funny'cause they try to justify it by being like Well, Quavo actually played football in high school. I'm sure that's what Cardi's labels note was. So yeah, at this point that's all that's gone on. Though for a good while, Nikki denies changing the lyrics to the song. I don't know why.

But by the spring of the following year. Nikki starts opening up about what really went down. Notably, she's dishing everything while promoting her next album, Queen. So maybe she sees this as a way to get the hype up for that. Right. Something to keep in mind. But basically, Nikki's doing a bunch of promotional interviews and she starts calling Cardi out for being ungrateful and not. Squashing the beef back when Nikki was trying to end it. Oh.

Digging in now. In an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Nikki tearfully reveals that she was really hurt when Cardi didn't back up her story about how the collaboration really played out. So here's Nikki. The only thing with Cardi that really, really, really hurt my feelings. Was the first interview she did after Motorsport came out. I remember like when I first came in.

If a female That stature had done a feature with me on it, I would only be, you know, singing their praises and saying thank you. The first interview she did after Mona Sport came out, it just really hurt me.'Cause she looked so aggravated and angry and the only thing she kept saying was, Oh, I didn't hear that. I didn't hear that verse. I didn't hear that verse. She changed her verse, like

It's funny because we just saw the interview she's talking about, and I don't think she looked aggravated or angry at all. No. Striking me like a real housewives feud in that like it It starts from literally nothing and then it just snowballs because people get mad at how you respond to the initial slight. But the initial slight here is like there's no substance. You know what it also reminds me of in the housewife sense? Something so small that happened. And maybe after this incident you just

started to develop negative feelings towards this person and you can't really put it on anything specific they did. And so you pick this one small thing and you make it about that. But it's really about you just not liking this person or maybe having jealousy. Yeah. To give you a brief window into Nikki's rationale.

She says that people are down to run with this lie because it's entertaining to make her into the bad guy. Okay. We caught you in a very small inconsequential lie and now you're a villain. It's like actually it is a lie, and we did figure that out, and it's okay. I'm just like, what happens between this? And a shoe being thrown at the plaza. This is about to be such an escalation. And yet and still not nearly enough to be brawling at Fashion Week.

So later that same month, Nikki goes on her own radio show, Queen Radio. and keeps talking about this, saying, She may have taken issue with things that I've said, but I'm not going to bite my tongue. You gotta have thick skin. That's an oxymoron of a sentence. You gotta have thick skin, but also I'm not gonna bite my tongue. Also, maybe we look in a mirror. Maybe we do some

Internal work as well. Yeah. Nikki then goes on to block Cardi on Instagram. What? Yes. Which, as you know, is tantamount to murder in this day and age. These are shots fired. In response, Cardi cryptically calls it out on Twitter. Here's that tweet, if you could read it for us. Imagine subbing me, but you blocked me from all social media, and then like 15 cry face emojis. Cry laughing to be clear. Right.

For those who don't know what subbing means, basically sub-tweeting or subbing means that you're talking about someone without actually saying their name. Okay. And from that, Fans apparently put together the pieces that Cardi's calling out Nikki for being petty.

Over the next couple months, fans start reading into every single move the rappers make. We don't know if all of the fan claims about their beef are substantiated or not. It's kind of hard to get sources for a lot of the things that are being thrown.

Uh huh. But everything explodes quite literally when the two come face to face at New York Fashion. Is ridiculous. Well yes. How do we get there? I wish I had an explanation that would make you feel at peace. But I think you'll still be saying, What? by the time we get there. Hello, I'm Matt Ford. And I'm Alice Levine. And we're the hosts of British Scandal. Now, Britain loves a royal scandal. Abdications, affairs, dodgy uncles. We've had the lot.

Raised in palaces bound by tragedy, supposed to be in separate. So how did they do that? Barely speaking. Was it jealousy, the press, the firm? Or was this royal rift always inevitable? This is the story of Harry and Wills and the scandal that split the house of Follow British Scamble wherever you get. Add free on Audible.

Okay, Matt. So I don't even feel I need to do much of a recap. Literally, all that's happened is that Nikki and Cardi were on a song together, and there was a rumor that Nikki had to change the verse and then she was like, No, I didn't, and nobody backed her up. So dumb. So this brings us back to the lead up to the infamous New York Fashion Week party. The one where Cardi reportedly threw a shoe at Nikki. Something else has to have happened. Well

I'm gonna tell you. So before the party, some drama goes down on Twitter. Allegedly, this is when Nikki likes and then unlikes a tweet about Cardi's parenting. Oh, right. It all started with one of Cardi's tweets when she tweeted, Welcome back, Kodak, after Kodak Black was released on a$100,000 bond after being charged with criminal.

Criminal sexual conduct. Okay, so Kodak Bach is a person. He's a rapper, known predator. He's been accused by a couple women, as far as I know. So Cardi tweets this, and then a Beyoncé slash. slash Nikki fan page, quote tweeted Cardi's tweet and wrote, The message she is sending as a mother to a baby girl by supporting a rapist is unsettling and uncomfortable to me. What

Unfortunately, Nikki fans will have to do a lot of cognitive dissonance in the future. They don't know it yet, but there's a storm coming. So allegedly that's the tweet that Nikki liked. The tweet being like She's a mother to a baby girl. How can she support a rapist? It's disgusting. I see it. So really even barely about her parenting and more just about her like overall moral judgment. Yeah. So Cardi catches wind that Nikki liked it, and this just really sets Cardi off.

So much so that when she sees Nikki at the Fashion Week party, she loses it. PMZ, of course, snags a video of the incident, which shows them going at each other with security and other people at the party trying to break them up. There's one thing I'm not doing. It's getting in between two New York girls going after.

So the video goes on with them screaming at each other from other sides of the room for more than two minutes, which doesn't sound like a long amount of time, but I want you to imagine. Standing in a room in between two people who are screaming at each other from opposite corners. And I promise you it will feel like the longest stretch of time in the world. In the Plaza Hotel, no less.

Here's a quick clip to get a sense of the scene. So that's Cardi saying, Bitch come here. You know that it's bad when a girl in a fight is saying something over and over but calmly. Bitch come here. Bitch come here. Meanwhile, two like fully grown men are holding her back. Yeah. Just the fact that this was filmed in 2018 and yet the footage looks like the same camera that captured like Bigfoot. I don't understand why there's not crystal clear 4K video of this.

I'm absolutely squinting to see what's happening, but no doubt you can hear the shouting. By the time they're separated and Cardi's leaving the venue with only one shoe on, she has a noticeable bump. Her forehead. Here is the photo TMZ posted. Oh my god, this photo. We shouldn't laugh. If you could just It truly looks like a cartoon. It looks like someone put a rubber ball under their skin. Yeah, no, it absolutely, it's like golf ball size.

And shaped. Yeah. Right above her eyebrow. Yeah. Not good. So right after the fight. Cardi goes on Instagram and posts a notes app message. to her grid. I did not realize this, but apparently I was caught in 4K as having liked this post. The writer of this episode did take a screenshot and I am in it. Uh I guess I liked this.

Could you read Cardi's post for us? She said, I've let a lot of shit slide. I let you sneak diss me. I let you lie on me. I let you attempt to stop my bags. Fuck up the way I eat. You threaten other artists in the industry, told them if they work with me, you'll stop fucking with them. I let you talk big shit about me. I addressed you once in person. I addressed you a second time in person, and every time you cop the plea.

But when you mention my child, you choose to like comments about me as a mother, make comments about my abilities to take care of my daughter is when all bets are fucking off. I've worked too hard and come back. Let anybody fuck with my success. I don't know. I can read this sentence. Bitches talk all that shit and they raps, but in real life they pussy. Absolute poetry. It sounds natural in

Really beautifully said and performed, Matt. Yeah. So obviously there's a lot to unpack here. Also, like from this sounds like so much more was happening behind the scenes. Which I would believe. Yeah. I mean, I would hope, based on the escalation here, that more had been happening. I'm like, were there other tweets that Nikki was liking? As far as stuff we can prove. goes, you know, the only hard receipts we have are liking that tweet and then the lying about the verse.

But I have to imagine that inside the industry Nikki might have been like running her mouth a little bit and it got back to Cardi. I can also imagine that there are so many fans who are reacting and posting thoughts about the subtext. behind this thing. And so like if you were a celebrity, when you open up Twitter, you're not just seeing the initial slight, you're also seeing like all of these fans' opinions about it that

are probably also coloring your opinion. Oh, definitely. She also says you've threatened other artists in the industry, told them if they work with me, you'll stop fucking with them. Which I would believe. Yeah, that's a pretty big accusation. Yeah. It's very high school mean girl stuff. Mm-hmm. So you're probably wondering how Nikki responds to this.

Yes. She stays quiet at first. Until a few days later, when she addresses the whole incident on her radio show. Nikki says that the fight was. Humiliating and mortifying, and then goes on to deny ever speaking ill of. Okay. So Nikki says this, referring to herself by her given name, Onika Tanya Mirage. I would never discuss anyone's child. For someone to pin that on me because I'm the bad guy and they know people would believe them. So let me just go on record having said, I would never.

Talk about anyone's child or parenting. I don't care. anyone's parenting I don't give a shit. And it's so crazy to me that Always I just want to let the world know that Onika Tani Mirage would never have been a good idea. I will never speak ill of anyone's child. I am not a clown. We do have to pause and um acknowledge the fact that she has recently been going after Megan the Stallion's future hypothetical children.

Yeah. Once again, we really need to take the givenage one moment at a time. Yes, that's a beautiful approach. Thank you, Matt. But again, I think based on that one tweet that she liked, I feel like what she's saying here is true. It just seems like one of those things where tensions were already So heightened that even the whisper of something close to insulting Cardi's parenting just sets Cardi off.

Yeah, and Cardi's also very sensitive to that at this moment. I mean, in general, but especially now, because she's gone through the whole thing with Tasha Kay. And her parenting has been criticized en masse by, you know, all of Tasha Kay's followers. And so she might see Nikki liking that tweet and blow it out of proportion.

But here's where the feud takes a turn that involves the fans of these two rappers. In late October, Cardi's sister, Hennessy, accuses Nikki of leaking Cardi's phone number to fan clubs devoted to Nikki. leading members of those fan clubs to harass Cardi. Wait, what happened? So the accusation is that Nicki Minaj got Cardi's phone number and then gave that phone number to the barbs, and the barbs went feral and used the number to harass Cardi.

Yeah, I feel like this has happened like a few times of celebrities posting other celebrities' phone numbers to be like, here you go, have at it. This has happened specifically with the barbs. Yeah, that's So annoying and insane. You're next. Be careful what you say. Oh So Nikki, of course, denies the accusation. And then she brings this up on another episode of her show where she calls Cardi out saying, You want me to control millions of fans?

I've never leaked a number in my life. Y'all continue to lie on me to make me look like a bad person. What is the truth? I think we know. We have a feeling. So after Nikki says this on her show, Cardi is livid. She responds with ten Instagram videos. Oh my god. Yes.

You've probably seen a lot of these chopped up into memes at this point because she's in these videos ranting about everything, from what kind of a narrative Nikki's constructing, whether Nikki's the victim or the aggressor in this feud, and how jealous. Cardi's success. Wow. Cardi later deletes these videos, but of course the internet has saved them for posterity. This is when we get one of Cardi's most iconic lines. Do you want to be the victim?

Or do you want to be the gangster? Yeah, I do remember these videos now. Mm-hmm. They were everywhere. Cardi goes on to talk about how, yes, she went and told people that Nikki changed her verse because yes. Nikki did. So that's like the initial thing in our feud, right? That Disagreement about the verse changing. Cardi says that if Nikki had a problem with that, she should have just called Cardi. Right. Here's her talking about that.

About it like a grown-ass woman, or you could have hit up Quavo so we could link up like the first time that we linked up and talk about shit in LA. But no, you waited a whole six months when you dropped the single to talk about it. How convenient is that? Wow. Yeah, I'm not detecting a lie. No. I really think Cardi is honest. I don't know if she's capable of like not saying what she thinks.

Right. Nikki responds with her own Instagram videos, but eventually she's the one who's had enough. And she calls for a ceasefire on Twitter. Nikki tweeted, Okay, you guys, let's focus on positive things only from here on out. We're all so blessed. I know this stuff is entertaining and funny to a lot of people, but I won't be discussing this nonsense anymore.

Thank you for the support and encouragement year after year. Love you. Hard emoji. What does it say about me that whenever I see someone pivot like this during a fight, I'm like, oh, you're the one in the wrong Yeah. She's been visited by three ghosts in the night and has changed her tune. But it kind of works because after this, the drama sort of peters out for a bit. But then It does pick back up when it He starts dating Kenneth Petty, a known God.

A couple other rappers get called into their own feuds with Cardi after being featured on a Nikki song. But nothing really major happens.

Until Nikki and Cardi's partners reignite the feud at the 2023 VMAs. Not the venerable VMAs, famously a place where no drama has ever happened. Okay, Matt, so this all started with Nikki liking a tweet, and then there was a fight at New York Fashion Week, there was the fallout from the fight, and they've both given statements since. And the feud has been pretty low-key since then. But now we're flashing forward to the twenty twenty-three VMA.

It's been about five years since the last major moments in the Nikki Cardi Feud. And things seem to have fizzled. Now both are in attendance at the award show. Cardi is performing her new song with Megan the Stallion, and Nikki's performing and serving as the host of the evening.

It's reportedly the first time they're together in public since the fashion week fight. Wow. We do have to factor in pandemic there. That's true. Yeah, there was a whole pandemic in between then and now. But then something goes down backstage with Cardi and Nikki's crews. And then there's some speculation that their husbands, Offset and Kenneth Petty, were also involved. Okay.

It's so fitting that she married someone with the last name Patty. Yeah. The details are murky and still haven't been revealed. But it seems like some kind of exchange went down, and that led to Cardi being threatened. Although she later boasts on Twitter I ain't even flinch. That's so vague. Who threatened who? I know. I'm like, did he lunge at you? Because Flinch implies that someone was coming at you. Yeah. The VMAs need to have backstage cameras.

Too much shit happens at that award show. We need full coverage. Next weekend. Nikki's husband, Kenneth Petty, posts a video of his crew on an empty street in New York at like 4 a.m., apparently waiting for offset to come outside because they're going to try and jump him. Oh my god. Now my first thought here was aren't you on probation for your sex crimes? Are you even allowed to be out that late? Yeah, it doesn't count at four AM

posting about something else illegal you're about to do? Oh yeah, the fact that they're posting about it? Yeah. They're like, we're about to fuck this guy up. That is not the wisest choice. But also strange that like Cardi was apparently the one being threatened. Oh yeah, don't worry, because in another video you can hear Kenneth's friend say that he wants to knock out

Cardi's teeth, and then a man who sounds like Kenneth backs him up. It feels like post whatever happened at the VMAs, it would be Cardi's folks who would be like, We need to go out and defend her. Yeah. Later, Kenneth shares his and offset's DMs. Basically, a diss off beckoning each other to pull up. As it turns out, Offset sent the first message.

And the timing seems to verify that something must have gone down at the VMA's. Okay. So offset did follow up, probably to be like, Hey, stay away from her. Right. If you're wondering what Offset's response to this was, He posts a video of himself walking off a private jet while laughing off the threats from Kenneth and his crew. 'Cause like, oh, you're on the street at four AM, I'm walking off my PJ. Have fun. Yeah.

I think that would hit a little bit harder if he probably also doesn't have access to a private jet. Yeah, that's Cardi's jet. I'm just assuming Nikki's also got one. So While this might be very funny to us, a judge finds the whole incident way less hilarious. The judge serves Kenneth with a probation violation. For those wondering, he's serving a suspended sentence for failing to register as a And then the judge sentences him to up to 120 days of house arrest.

So you might be wondering what Nikki and Cardi think of Well, at that point in time, Nikki stands by her man. She posts a snippet of a song off of her soon to be released album, Pink Friday 2, that calls out her husband. status. For those who don't know what that is. Basically she's just saying she's proud of her husband's actions. Yeah, posting a song in response to your sex offender husband. Yeah. I don't know if I would be doing all that, but

She's loyal. I'll give her that. She also claims that someone's been coming for her family. and lying to the cops in order to sabotage her. I remember at one point Nikki implying that Kenneth's victim was lying about him assaulting her. Oh. And I feel like this all happened around the same time where she was trying to make it seem like the sexual assault did not actually happen and that the girl was lying. So while she doesn't name names, fans speculate that in addition to that woman

She's also talking about Cardi. Okay. Yeah. Very paranoid. thinking going on. Yeah, absolutely. Ultimately, I have to wonder if this feud was detrimental to these two female rappers or helpful to their careers. Because as we know from this Podcast Drama Sells. Of course. I think Nikki has reached a point though where none of the drama is helping her. Because for the drama to work in like juicing up your album seals, the music has

Good. Well, there is that, yeah. In light of her really doubling down on support for her husband, sex offender, it's just like she has lost all of that moral high ground and it's just kind of like becoming a Tenable now. The barbs were really struggling with how to defend her. Oh my god, yeah. Thank God she's supposedly leaving that man because the barbs really had no leg left to stand.

They could let out a sigh of relief. Yeah. Nikki does get one win though. In March 2024, she officially dethroned Cardi as the female rapper with the highest certified single. Nikki's superbase has been certified Twelve times platinum. Edging out Cardi's Bodak Yellow, which is eleven times platinum. But it still never got to number one. Well said. At this point in time

Cardi's going through a divorce and Nikki's rumored to possibly be following suit. Although Nikki seems to be trying to shut down those rumors, so who knows? What if they end up together? That would be maybe the worst relationship to ever exist. They'd both be dead within a year. But you know Maybe they'll bury the hatchet. I hope so. I don't know, though, because with these two, I wouldn't be surprised if we see their rivalry thrown right back. I just don't feel like

This one helped them in any way. They weren't making like diss tracks about one another, really, that the feud was helping. It feels like Deeply personal fight. is happening on the biggest stage imaginable. Right. This is one of those things where it's like you would tell a friend, you need to drop this because it's making you look bad. And they're just like they can't help themselves.

It just feels like compared to like the Drake and Kendrick viewed, at least we're getting like some good distracts out of this. Well, I will say I wonder if What's impeding that is the belief that a lot of people have that Nikki is sort of not in a good place and not. in a place where she can write in the way she used to. And so while I do hope that in the future they at least make music about their beef, I don't know if Nikki's pen is um intact.

Or in a place for her to do so. Yeah. I have a lot of trouble feeling sorry for her after she marries the sex offender. Like anytime before that, I could be like Oh Nikki, you're off the rails, but like, come on, girl, get back on track. Right, but there may be divorcing, so barbs, don't come after us. We retract. Barbs, you know that we're happy to see her away from that man. Just as happy as you are. If you do want to confront us.

We will not be paying for your travel. We're just gonna be upfront about that. I want nothing but the best for both of them.

From Wondery, this is Dis and Tell, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. The show is hosted by me, Sidney Battle. And me, Matt Belisai. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were Vox's, Nikki. Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and the sexist female rapper paradigm behind their feud explained.

By Alex Abad Santos, and W Magazine's Cardi B Gets Candid. Hip-hop's fiercest female rapper speaks out about her past, her career, and being a new mom by Diane Solway. Our senior story editor, Alex. Alex Burns wrote this episode. Kate Downey is our lead producer, and Jake Dvorsky is our associate producer. Our story editor is Greg Castro.

Sound design is done by Kelly Kromeric, with additional audio assistance provided by Daniel Gonzalez. Back checking by Sonia Maynard. Our music supervisor is Scott Velazquez for Freeze on Sync. Joe Florentino is our coordinating producer. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelo, Stephanie Jens, Marshall Lewey, and Aaron O'Flarity for