Female rap artists Cardi B and Nicki Minaj engaged in a violent feud at the Harper’s Bazaar ICONS Party in New York City Sept. 7. Footage was obtained of Cardi B lunging for Minaj and removing her shoe to throw at Minaj. Many sources soon came forward describing the brawl.
This event was wildly significant in the world of pop culture because Nicki Minaj and Cardi B are each icons in the rap community. They are by far the two most prominent and relevant female rappers in the business. Even a small, measly rift between these iconic celebrities would have made headlines, so it’s no surprise that this dramatic physical brawl has caused not only a ripple in the pop culture community, but crashing waves.
Immediately after the violence subsided, Cardi B was seen exiting the party with only one high heel shoe, a rip in her dress and a large and seemingly painful bump above her eyebrow. Witnesses say Minaj was not the cause of Cardi B’s head injury. She was likely injured by a bodyguard or a member of the large mob that had gathered during the chaos.
Cardi B addressed the event in a statement on social media later that evening, in which she accused Minaj of sabotaging her career, criticizing her parenting, and insulting her in song lyrics. The statement led fans to believe Minaj’s comments on Cardi B’s family life and child were what ultimately prompted her to instigate the fight. Cardi B wrote, “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 [off]!!” Minaj’s name was never mentioned in the statement, but it was evident who she was referencing.
Minaj declined to respond to these allegations or comment on the event until a few days later, when she told reporters, “’you’re angry and you’re sad… This woman’s at the highest point in her career and she’s throwing shoes?’”
Many fans have expressed their opinions on the fight, some siding with Cardi B and others supporting Minaj. However, there is no doubt Minaj has benefited more from the excessive publicity and media coverage. Her radio podcast, “Queen Radio,” quadrupled its number of listeners and soared to number one on the Apple Music charts, and the new music video for Minaj’s hit “Barbie Dreams” has reached 10 million views in just two days. Cardi B, on the other hand, is generally considered to be the laughingstock of the feud after her antics. The internet as well as various social media platforms exploded with images of the embarrassingly large bump on Cardi B’s head.
Students at Harvard–Westlake have varying opinions on the topic.
“Nicki was just salty that her album did so badly, so she attacked Cardi and Cardi’s baby because she was jealous,” Talia Tepper ’22 said in support of Cardi B.
“I support Nicki because she was the original female rapper. Cardi B shouldn’t have attacked her,” Josie Jun ’22 said, siding with Minaj.
Cardi B and Nicki Minaj’s feud has been brewing for approximately 1 year. It began when Cardi B called out a “mystery woman“, who fans assumed to be Nicki Minaj, at a concert in August 2017. A month later, Minaj released song lyrics that seemed to accuse Cardi B of being a so-called ‘wannabe’ and piggybacking off of Minaj’s success.
When they collaborated on the song “Motorsport” in December 2017, the drama resumed after an uneventful period of time. Cardi B accused Minaj of altering her verse of the song in an attempt to move the spotlight away from Cardi B, which prompted an offended Minaj to respond.
However, many fans believed the feud was buried for good when the rappers were seen chatting at the Met Gala in May 2018. This speculation didn’t last for long, though, as Minaj’s song “Ganja Burns”, released in August, contained more lyrics that could be interpreted as an attack on Cardi B. Minaj also began supporting social media sites that disapproved of Cardi B.
Not long after, the feud came to a dramatic head in the form of an explosive brawl at the Harper’s Bazaar ICONS party. Only time will tell if there is more drama in store for this pair of talented rappers.
