hiss

Lately, “Rap Twitter” has been in shambles over the genre’s latest high-profile feud between Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj. Today, Minaj released “Big Foot,” in which she disses her “Hot Girl Summer” collaborator after Megan deftly referenced her marital woes on “Hiss” last Friday (January 26). While fans fuss and fight over which of the two is on top (so far), here’s a timeline of how we got here.

Megan And Nicki Release “Hot Girl Summer” — August 2019

As Megan enjoyed her breakout year, she coined the phrase “Hot Girl Summer” to lay claim to the warmer months when her lively music would reign supreme. Naturally, when it came time to release a song of the same name — and its music video a month later — she recruited the woman who has arguably been the biggest influence on the modern wave of rap it-girls that have exploded onto the scene since 2017.

Unfortunately, it looks like love fest was short-lived, as things apparently soured between them rather quickly (you might notice that this is a common occurence with Nicki’s collaborators). A livestream in which the two women met for the first time could be the reason, as Nicki later cited Meg plying her with alcohol as one of her reasons for changing course on Thee Stallion.

Megan And Cardi B Release “WAP” — August 2020

So, a couple of things here: When Megan decided to accept Cardi’s invitation to collaborate on “WAP,” she surely must have known about Cardi and Nicki’s longstanding beef — and Nicki’s policy about picking a side and staying on it.

While Meg choosing to ignore Nicki’s dictate to shun Cardi almost certainly got under the elder rapper’s skin, the success of “WAP” in comparison to that of “Hot Girl Summer” might have been the factor that sent her over the edge. While “Hot Girl Summer debuted and peaked at No. 11 on the Hot 100, “WAP” not only started at No. 1 but it also spent four non-consecutive weeks there and became the hottest topic of discussion in that span, for good or ill.

Nicki Minaj Airs Out Megan On Queen Radio — September 2022

During Nicki’s September 11 episode of Queen Radio, she took the opportunity to declare a few of her latest rap beefs via a series of “blind items,” lashing out at Latto for praising rap’s newfound parity for women and insinuating that Megan had encouraged her to get an abortion while plying her with liquor during her “drive the boat” era.

Although Megan herself was skeptical that Minaj accused her of anything (bless her; she always looks for context before believing the tweets, which is a good policy for all of us, honestly), she was eventually forced to accept that Nicki had pulled a Nicki and decided her friend was actually her enemy. She’s basically the Joseph Stalin of the rap world.

Nicki Releases “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” Taking Shots At Megan — March 2023

When Nicki returned to the spotlight in early 2023 to release her single “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” sharp-eared fans quickly noted a line that appeared to be a shot at Megan Thee Stallion. “700 on them horses when we fixing to leave / But I’on f*ck with horses since Christopher Reeves,” she raps, seemingly alluding to Meg’s rap name, which is slang for for “tall, thick woman.”

She also seemingly cited Meg’s recent brand deal with a certain snack brand, sniping, “Dorito b*tches / Mad that they nachos (not chose).” The previous year, Meg had appeared in a Super Bowl ad for the flavored tortilla chips, making “Red Ruby” a pretty clear shot across her bow.

Megan Releases “Hiss” — January 2024

They say revenge is a dish best served cold and nearly a year passed before Megan got hers. In the meantime, she cleared her calendar, freeing herself of her label deal, and waiting for the outcome of the assault trial against Tory Lanez for shooting her in the foot. With favorable outcomes in both cases, she finally turned her attention back to rap beef, taking inspiration from a cold-blooded predactor on “Hiss.”

In addition to smacking down a bunch of her biggest detractors, she aimed a haymaker at Minaj, rapping, “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law.” The line refers to a mandate requiring sex offenders to register with local governments and preventing them from living near schools — a law that applies to Nicki’s husband, Kenneth Petty. Nicki and Petty have been locked into a legal battle with his alleged victim over claims they’ve been harassing her to retract her 1995 testimony so he can get off the sex offenders registry.

Nicki Strikes Back With “Big Foot” — January 2024

All of which brings us to today. After Nicki spent the three days since the release of “Hiss” going off on Twitter — you can see a sampling of her tweets below — she responded with a diss track of her own, “Big Foot.” Lashing out with abandon, she repeats some of the most common complaints about Megan’s shooting ( “F*ck you get shot with no scar?”), the younger rapper’s label deal (“‘Fore I hit Carl and buy your catalogue”), and sales (“still ain’t topped ‘Red Ruby’”). This won’t be the end of the drama; all anyone can say for certain is, if you’re already tired of seeing Nicki and Meg on your timeline, it might be time to log out for a good long while.