Halftime Leisure

Have We Seen the End of the Cardi B v. Nicki Minaj Beef?

Burr vs. Hamilton. Stalin vs. Trotsky. Cardi vs. Nicki.

The battle betwixt two legendary New York rappers has seen its latest —and perchance final—twist.

To the shock of her fans and haters akin, Nicki Minaj appear her retirement from music last Thursday. "I 've decided to retire & accept my family," Nicki wrote in a since-deleted tweet. "I know yous guys are happy now."

At present, musical "retirements" are famously curt-lived — looking at you, Jay Z , LCD Soundsystem , and Jonas Brothers. Time volition tell if Nicki really commits to leaving music or if this turns out to be some elaborate publicity stunt. In the concurrently, however, let's accept a await at how we got to this point in this interborough feud.

Nicki is by far the veteran of the music manufacture in this beef, having produced multiple charting albums long before Cardi's 2017 quantum unmarried "Bodak Yellowish." After Bodak topped the Hot 100, Cardi and Nicki collaborated on rap trio Migos' vocal "Motorsport." The rappers seemed to take an amicable rapport, until Nicki slipped a subtle put-down into a runway later in the year. "I heard these labels tryna make another me," she rapped on "No Flag." "Everything yous getting little hoe is because of me."

For a menstruation following Cardi'southward rise, tabloid news and fan accounts on social media seemingly rooted for beefiness . In Apr 2018, Cardi dispelled the rumors and called the feud "cyberspace made-up." Much of the social media controversy was based around the narrative that two female rappers couldn't co-exist in ane urban center, which is a blatant double standard. C ommentators never endeavour to instigate beefiness, for instance, between 21 Savage and Childish Gambino, even though they are from the same city, occupy the same genre, and rose to fame at around the same time.

Of all the rappers in New York City, observers seem most eager to stir the pot between Nicki and Cardi, despite the fact that their music and rapping styles are not all that similar. Virtually recently, tabloid celebrity media has tried to create beefiness between Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion, fifty-fifty though in that location is little evidence of any existing disharmonize betwixt the 2. The hip hop globe is more than than large enough for two female rappers—to quote indie rocker Snail Postal service, "female-fronted is not a genre."

Even so, any semblance of a friendship betwixt the 2 rappers evaporated on September seventh, 2018, at the Harper's Bazaar New York Fashion Week party. Much like the Burr-Hamilton duel, the exact events of the nighttime are hotly disputed. It is unclear who initiated the brawl ( this video from the dark doesn't exactly add together much context, also the fact that in that location was a lot of yelling) but Cardi was rumored to have hurled a $537 high heel shoe at Nicki's squad before leaving with visible injuries.

Cardi, being the social media icon that she is, explained her actions on Instagram later on. "I've permit a lot of shit slide," she wrote, "merely when you mention my child, you choose to similar comments virtually me as a mother, brand comments about my abilities to have intendance of my daughter is when all bets are fucking off!!"

Nicki later took to her weekly Beats 1 evidence, Queen Radio, to share her side of the brawl. She denied insulting Cardi's parenting abilities, but cast doubt on the legitimacy of her success. "I never had to bang a DJ to play my songs," Nicki said. "This adult female's at the highest point in her career and she's throwing shoes?"

Despite Nicki's wild accusations, the beef has mostly subsidized since the brawl and its immediate backwash. Cardi has been busy raising her daughter Kulture, while also featuring on chart-topping albums from Lil Nas X and Ed Sheeran. Cardi had apace get the bigger of the two names, at least in the kickoff half of 2019.

Which brings us to Nicki'southward retirement —to call information technology unexpected would exist an understatement. After a relatively quiet period for the rapper, she returned strong over the summer with features on two hits—rising star Megan Thee Stallion'south "Hot Girl Summer" and fellow N ew York rapper Popular Smoke's "Welcome to the Political party"—the latter of which has go the unofficial canticle of this year's Georgetown Football squad.

Cardi stans on Twitter were quick to call the retirement a victory, but there is no clear connectedness between the prolonged beef and Nicki calling it quits. Cardi herself has been uncharacteristically placidity on the announcement, peradventure signalling her belief that the retirement will exist short-lived. Meanwhile, Nicki recently announced her engagement to Kenneth Petty, and it's perfectly possible that she is only burnt out from the music industry and wants a pause.

It is easy to forget, amid all the drama, how much both Nicki and Cardi have innovated within their corresponding subgenres. Internet culture has inspired fans not only to back up their favorite artists, simply also actively root against others. Despite this, the music manufacture is at its all-time when both Nicki and Cardi are creating.

If you lot are a fan of hip hop, at that place is no need to pick a side —simply follow in Megan Thee Stallion's wise words and root for the music.

"They're two different people, ii different rappers. It's not even the same. I feel like nosotros need to stop trying to compare them," Megan said. "I love both of them."

Eli Lefcowitz
is the Social Media Editor. In his free fourth dimension, he enjoys rooting, fruitlessly, for the Mets, Jets, Knicks, Islanders, and Queens Park Rangers.

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