Nicki Minaj is celebrating her contributions to the rap game.
In honor of the 12th anniversary of her debut mixtape Playtime Is Over, the rap queen took to Instagram on Friday (July 5) to reflect on her impact on pop culture and women in hip-hop.
“12 years ago I dropped my 1st mixtape,” she began. “Wrote every single word on every single song. I was so proud of that. Eventually the barbz were all wearing pink hair, Chinese bangs, & Barbie chains. Colorful wigs came all the way back in style. Everyone became Barbies & Dolls.”
She went on to call out other female rappers who have acknowledged her for opening doors. “I always shouted out my influences in my interviews,” she said. “Now a days, it’s become cool to pretend u weren’t influenced by other artists. S/O to the ones big enough to do it: Kash, Asian, Cuban, Saweetie, Meg, Malibu, YOUNG MA, Ms. Banks, Lady Leshurr, etc. No female rapper (other than Trina) did a song w/me or congratulated me on my billboard accomplishments.”
However, Nicki says she never felt like “they were obligated” to shout her out or work with her. “Just like Beyoncé isn’t obligated to congratulate or collaborate with Normani, etc.,” she said.
She also seemingly threw shade at Cardi B, who has been accused of payola and not writing her own songs. “I never had a crusade by radio stations, influencers & blogs to make my song number I when Anaconda was #2 on the Hot 100,” she continued. “I never had a group of men in the studio writing my songs for me so it took a while between albums.”
The “MEGATRON” rapper slammed her critics for not giving her her flowers. “Please stop these write ups about what I didn’t do. Y’all are rlly sick & ima call y’all out one by one on Queen Radio,” said Nicki. “Most of yall doing these write ups have never fought for anything in life. You just sit on the sidelines & watch the doers do!!!!”
She ended by thanking her loyal fans for their support. “To my fans; I love, cherish you, adore you, and thank you. God bless you.”
One commenter brought up Lil’ Kim, whose iconic pose Nicki recreated in an early promo image. “Nicki, I love you, but you HAVE to shout out Lil Kim. You have to…I’m sorry but she prob felt like she got no recognition from you and you reincarnated her style. I’m sorry to say it.”
Nicki fired back: “I shouted her out in all my early interviews. That’s YOUR narrative. Not the RIGHT one. I recreated her pose as a sign of paying homage.”
Another Instagram user said Nicki “has got to stop these rants,” to which she replied, “Eat a dick. Blocked for being fkng dumb & wanting black women to keep being afraid of speaking their truth.”
She also referenced Taylor Swift, who made headlines after speaking out against Scooter Braun, writing, “Taylor Swift can speak but I can’t?!”
Additionally, Nicki took to Instagram Stories to remind fans that she paid homage to other female MCs including Lil’ Kim and Remy Ma on her “Who’s Ya Best MC?” verse. “Oh y’all forgot shit like that, right?” she asked. “Do your fkng research and thank u to the ppl who stand with me.”
During the dialogue, Ma$e suggested that she and Kim collaborate on the remix to “MEGATRON.” “Get it right with #kim on the #Megatron remix,” he wrote. Nicki responded with the tears of joy emoji.