Nicki Minaj has lived in the United States for most of her life, but as she recently discussed, she’s not actually a US citizen. She thinks that’s pretty wild given how much of her money has gone to paying taxes.
“I’m not a citizen of America. Isn’t that crazy? I was born on a beautiful island called Trinidad and Tobago. But I’ve been in the States for many years. You would think that with the millions of dollars that I’ve paid in taxes to this country that I would have been given an honorary citizenship many, many, many thousands of years ago.”
Minaj previously opened up about her background in 2018. In an Instagram post shared in response to children being separated from their parents at the US/Mexico border, Minaj wrote, “I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old. I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5. This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror & panic these kids feel right now? Not knowing if their parents are dead or alive, if they’ll ever see them again…”
Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty never seem to make headlines for the right reasons. Minaj continues to be one of the most successful rappers in the world. Whenever Minaj’s husband gets involved, though, the results are complicated at best. The trend continued on September 17. Minaj and Petty were put on blast by a security guard who claimed they assaulted him. The guard won a settlement against the couple, but is now claiming that Nicki Minaj and Petty have yet to pay up.
The incident dates back to 2022. Thomas Weidenmuller, the security guard in question, filed a complaint against Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty in January. He claimed that he got into an argument with Minaj due to the way she was treating a female staff member. Weidenmuller then alleges that the rapper threw one of her shoes at him. The security guard says things only got worse from there. Kenneth Petty allegedly attacked Weidenmuller at the urging of his wife. The security guard initially sought $700K in damages. He agreed, however, to $500K as a default judgement when the celebrity couple failed to respond to the suit.
Weidenmuller may have gotten a court ruling in his favor, but Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty have not cooperated. The Jasmine Brand reports that the couple are allegedly dodging the $500K settlement they have been ordered to pay. Weidenmuller has waited for Minaj and Petty to make good, but he has decided to file a memo highlighting their alleged dodging. The security guard filed both a memo of costs and a writ of execution against the couple in September. These filings have increased the amount that Minaj and Petty will ultimately have to pay. Prior to the filings, they owed $503,318. After, they owe an increased total of $526,110.74.
Ironically, Nicki Minaj recently made headlines for allegedly being owed money. The rapper took to the comment section of a DJ Akademiks TikTok to put JAY-Z on blast for his Tidal dealings. Minaj was one of the superstars who signed on to be a partial owner of Tidal in 2015. She claimed that she was never paid a cent, though. “I didn’t even get one red penny,” Nicki Minaj announced. “No one promoted it more than me outside of Beyonce. Lol chi.”
Nicki Minaj has arguably been Lil Wayne’s strongest defender amid the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl halftime show controversy. She blasted Jay-Z for the supposedly hate-fueled decision to not appoint Lil Wayne for the New Orleans stage next year. All of these details and many more are still unclear. But we got a new claim to add to these contradictions. Jesse Collins, a producer for the spectacle since 2021, recently claimed that Hov is the one who has final say in what artists perform, and that the show is largely of his own design.
“It’s a decision that Jay makes,” Jesse Collins said of the Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Kendrick Lamar controversy. “Since we’ve been on board with that show, he’s made it every year, and it’s been amazing. He’s always picked right!” Nicki Minaj reacted to this by replying to a report on the matter with a laughing emoji on Twitter. Even though we don’t know what she’s exactly laughing at here, we can make a pretty obvious assumption that she still blames him at least partially for what went down.
Also, Nicki Minaj’s disdain for Jay-Z extends to other business dealings, primarily how she allegedly never saw a dime for partnering with his TIDAL streaming service. This is all a bit tragic but also unsurprising to see given the very complicated relationship between Young Money and the Roc, which extends to the rest of the rap world. Regardless of where you fall on that Super Bowl debate, seeing the late 2000s and early 2010s implode among itself in 2024 has been one of the most significant rap moments of the year.
“This too, shall pass,” Nicki Minaj penned to Lil Wayne. “But what you have done for the hip-hop culture will remain. It will stand the TEST of time. Many times our greatest & most dehumanizing test is just a way for God to get the glory. You were simply used in a war of egos. To ppl who are empty inside, all they have is their temporary power.” We’ll see how this ends…
Some of the Barbz have not been too happy with their queen, Nicki Minaj. Over the weekend, the superstar rapper had to deal with concertgoers demanding refunds. They had been voicing their frustrations over her starting shows late, alleged lip-syncing, and not performing certain songs. Obviously, some of these requests are pretty unbelievable, and Nicki was quick to address by detailing how she’s trying to give each tour stop a unique experience. It’s safe to say they won’t be getting their money back, but they are being compensated in a different way. According to announcement from Nicki Minaj (via AllHipHop), she going to be releasing Pink Friday 3 in the near future.
Yes, you heard us correctly, she is going to be turning this tandem of projects into a trilogy! If you remember, the original plan was that she was going to drop the Gag City Reloaded deluxe of Pink Friday 2 on September 13. It had been teased for a few weeks with new snippets and performances of these unreleased tracks on tour. We even received a cover and the whole shebang. But as you are about to read, Nicki explains why she decided to scrap this pretty last minute.
Instead of doing a DELUXE to Pink Friday 2, I’ve decided to do a brand new album. I’ll still incorporate new songs like #Mamita & [The “anxiety” song] for the remainder of the tour tho…and I’ll announce the new date within the next…
“Instead of doing a DELUXE to Pink Friday 2, I’ve decided to do a brand new album. I’ll still incorporate new songs like #Mamita & [The “anxiety” song] for the remainder of the tour tho…and I’ll announce the new date within the next couple weeks. The new music is just too good to be thrown away on a deluxe album”, Minaj said. “Last night, the songs I recorded were just way too iconic. I love you guys so much. You know that. I know you do. I’ll still give you something leading up to the announcement, so no worries.” She also goes onto mention that this era in her career has been extremely fulfilling for her for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, for the Barbz, they will have to wait even longer. However, based on reactions across the internet they seem more than happy.
What are your thoughts on Nicki Minaj dropping her initial plans to instead release Pink Friday 3? Do you think she complete this now trilogy by the end of the year? Based on her tweet how many songs do you see landing on this new album? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Nicki Minaj. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
Stephen A Smith and Nicki Minaj are world class trash talkers. They have build their personas on being combative, and speaking their mind when nobody else will. Or, sometimes, when nobody else asked. Such was the cast on September 9, when Nicki Minaj unleashed on JAY-Z and Roc Nation for what she felt was a slight against her Young Money mentor, Lil Wayne. Minaj felt like Weezy should have headlined the upcoming Halftime Show at the Super Bowl, but Roc Nation went with Kendrick Lamar. Stephen A Smith did not appreciate Minaj’s public tantrum.
Smith addressed Nicki Minaj directly during the September 11 episode of his podcast. He started out cordially, as one has come to expect from an SAS rant. He assured Minaj and the viewers that he had respect for her, and the things she’s managed to achieve. The analyst didn’t, however, respect Minaj’s decision to castigate JAY-Z. “Every time we turn around it’s something, Nicki,” he stated. “You disagree with the decision… but you have to talk to a brother like that?” Stephen A Smith is referring to the Nicki Minaj tweet in which she claimed that JAY-Z favors money over the culture that helped make him rich.
Stephen A Smith Felt Minaj’s Comments Were Selfish
Stephen a smith goes off on the queen Nicki Minaj after her tweets she called jay z a sell out after he snubbed lil Wayne for Kendrick Lamar for the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/eeZw42Q3Id
Stephen A Smith also took time out from bashing Minaj to give JAY-Z his flowers. He pointed out that Hov has been instrumental in getting more R&B and hip hop artists on the Halftime Show stage since Roc Nation got involved with the NFL in 2019. “Do you know how hard it is,” Smith asked. “For a Black man to pull of what JAY-Z has pulled off?” He supported his case by mentioning the kinds of acts who played the Super Bowl prior to Roc Nation. The Who and Coldplay have probably never been said with more disdain.
Smith got a bit off topic, but he brought it back to his main point. He believes that Nicki Minaj is being unappreciative for what JAY-Z has accomplished for the culture as a whole. He also feels like Minaj is simply using the controversy as a means of drumming up free publicity for herself. In case the point wasn’t clear, Stephen A Smith ran down a list of the celebrities that Minaj has had beef with over the years. “It ain’t about you as an individual, it’s about us,” he asserted. “All of us, as Black people.”
Nicki Minaj has beef with other rappers. It’s what she does when she’s not making hits. The beef that she’s sparking up with JAY-Z has been particularly bitter, though. The rapper absolutely laid into Hov after it was announced that Kendrick Lamar, and not Lil Wayne, would be headlining the 2025 Halftime Show in New Orleans. Nicki Minaj questioned JAY-Z’s allegiance, and called him some pretty nasty names in the process. Apparently, she had more to say.
Nicki Minaj’s initial Twitter rant took place on September 9. A day later, though, the rapper decided to drop more anti-Hov rhetoric on a DJ Akademiks TikTok post. Ak was covering the fallout of the Halftime Show announcement, and the alleged tensions between JAY-Z and Drake. Minaj went into the comment section and proceeded to make some bold claims about JAY’s former streaming service, Tidal. Tidal did not pan out like the rapper intended, but in seemed like it was going to be the next big thing in 2015. A lot of fans likely remember the Tidal signing event, where a host of superstars took to the stage to serve as partial owners.
Nicki Minaj Calls Out JAY-Z Over Her 2015 Tidal Deal
Nicki Minaj responds to a comment on a Big AK Tik tok post.
She states that she never received “one red penny” from her Tidal deal with Jay Z, despite the countless promotions she did for the company. Btw jay z sold the company for like $300 million. pic.twitter.com/K5J4jrf84f
Nicki Minaj was one of these superstars. She signed a streaming deal with Tidal, and proceeded to stand onstage next to Rihanna, Madonna, and countless others. The only problem? She didn’t get paid. Minaj claimed that she never received payment from the platform, despite JAY selling Tidal on the notion of making more for the artist. “I didn’t even get one red penny,” the rapper wrote. To add insult to injury, at least in her mind, Minaj was stiffed on signing to a platform that she spent lots of time promoting. She claimed to have promoted it as much as JAY-Z’s own wife, Beyonce. “No one promoted it more than me outside of Beyonce,” she added. “Lol chi.”
Nicki Minaj’s claims directly contrasts previous reports about Tidal. JAY-Z sold the streaming platform for a whopping $300 million in 2021. The Shade Room reported that the stars who were listed as co-owners of the platform were given a payout of $8.9 million. This was intended to cover the 3% stake that each of them, Minaj included, had in the company. Minaj has never mentioned Tidal drama in the past, which is a bit suspicious, but we get the sense that she has a lot more to say about JAY-Z in the near future. Maybe she will provide evidence to support her financial claims.
It’s really Young Money versus the rest in 2024. Drake had to take on the whole industry by himself during the first half of the year. Now, the heat has shifted to Nicki Minaj. The rapper went absolutely ballistic on JAY-Z after it was revealed that Kendrick Lamar would be playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2005. Minaj felt like her label boss, Lil Wayne should have the chance to headline given that he’s from New Orleans. She had plenty to say on the matter, and it looks like Drake agrees.
Nicki Minaj went on a multi-tweet rant on September 9. She called out JAY-Z for prioritizing money over culture, and waxed poetic about Lil Wayne’s impact on the game. “You don’t know the half of what Lil Wayne has done for me and others,” she wrote. “Inspired your faves to wanna be a great MC. He never was in this for the money.” The last comment seemed like a pretty blatant dig at JAY-Z, who has always advertised himself as a business, man. DJ Akademiks reposted Nicki Minaj’s tweet on Instagram, and the 6 God himself liked it. We know Drake likes to frequent Ak’s content, but the fact that he liked the post, knowing that fans were going to see it, says a lot.
Drake’s silence on the matter, at least officially, has been interesting. He has spent months dissing every famous rapper who came at him on record. In the past few months, though, he’s taken a less direct and ambiguous approach. Drake has seemingly settled into posting cryptic messages on Instagram. Or, in the case of the Lil Wayne Halftime Show situation, purposely timed throwbacks. Shortly after the Super Bowl headliner was announced, and it wasn’t Wayne, Drake took to his IG Stories. He posted a photo of Weezy and the rest of the Young Money crew circa 2009. No caption, but it wasn’t needed. Fans knew what he was getting at.
Drake’s relationship with Nicki Minaj has been the subject of widespread speculation over the years. They have had their years on the outs, like 2015, but they seem to have reconciled. Drake popped out during Nicki Minaj’s Toronto concert earlier this year. He performed a couple songs with her, then told the crowd that he had to get back to his battle with Lamar (we know how that went). Minaj praised her Young Money brother before he got off stage, though. She dubbed Drake an “icon” and a “legend.”
Memphis Bleek knows JAY-Z about as well as anybody in hip hop. He was Hov’s right hand man during the peak of Roc-A-Fella Records. When he has something to say about the man, there’s a lot of street cred that comes with it. This is why Memphis Bleek’s input on September 10 was so welcome. The hip hop world was still shocked by Nicki Minaj’s vitriol towards JAY-Z after the Super Bowl Halftime Show controversy. It seemed to come out of nowhere. According to Bleek, though, there’s a specific reason why Minaj despises JAY-Z.
Memphis Bleek took to Twitter to present his theory. He didn’t air out Nicki Minaj, or even call her out by name, but the message was pretty clear. The rapper reposted a Hot 97 clip of JAY-Z talking way back in 2009. The Roc-A-Fella co-founder claimed that fellow artists only get mad at him whenever he fails to do something for them. “They don’t say I did anything to them,” JAY-Z says in the clip. “They say I didn’t do something for them.” Memphis Bleek implies that Nicki Minaj is one of the artists who fall under this tired pattern. “N**gas is mad mad,” he added.
Memphis Bleek may have a point. Nicki Minaj and JAY-Z both hail from New York, but there has never been a particularly close dynamic between them. Minaj and Hov rapped together on Kanye West’s hit “Monster” in 2010, but have never appeared on each other’s respective albums. Nicki Minaj also said that she wanted to “dethrone” JAY-Z during a 2012 interview with Allure Magazine. She explained that she made her bold proclamation to the rapper’s face during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m coming for you,’” Minaj recalled. “‘I’m coming for your spot, Mr. Mogul.’”
It doesn’t help, of course, that Nicki Minaj’s boss, Lil Wayne, and label mate, Drake, has also had tense dynamics with Hov over the years. Roc Nation and Young Money don’t seem to mix, which does support Memphis Bleek’s theory. The notion that JAY-Z didn’t pick Weezy for the Super Bowl Halftime Show, or the Young Money crew as a whole, is an instance of him not doing something for Minaj. There’s decades of additional history and context to take into account. At the end of the day, though, Bleek’s theory is still pretty solid.
Fasten your seatbelts and pop a Dramamine, Nicki Minaj has chimed in on the discourse of the day: Why Lil Wayne isn’t headlining Super Bowl LIX’s halftime show. And, in typical Nicki fashion, her rant on Twitter (which we are never going to call “X”) turned out to be a wild ride.
First things first: I think we are all well aware of why Ms. Minaj would take this so personally. Without Wayne, her rap career very probably would have stalled out long before a “Super Bass” or “Starships,” let alone a “Super Freaky Girl” or “Say So” remix. And then, there’s her intriguing, seemingly one-sided feud with Jay-Z, the founder of Roc Nation, which books the Super Bowl halftime show.
But normally, Nicki reserves this level of unhinged for her beefs with other female rappers, like Latto and Megan Thee Stallion, so it’s kind of fascinating to see her go off like this on someone else’s behalf for once. Here’s what she said:
Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego. Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!! Nola what’s good?!!!!!! Eminem stood firm on having 50Cent come out. A white man. Sh*t sad. House N***ER TINGZ. but it’s GOOD FI DEM!!!!!!! No loyalty ? Welp. then n****z will keep son’ing you!!!!!
So… There’s a lot to unpack here. Jay-Z and Roc Nation did sign their deal with the NFL to be the official music partner for the Super Bowl after Colin Kaepernick’s controversial anthem protests. This was something that rightly rubbed a lot of hip-hop fans the wrong way, suggesting that Jay valued the money and platform much more than pursuing meaningful social change. Now, he did secure financial commitments from the NFL for social justice programs, but as with any incremental change, that’s never going to be quite enough for the “burn it all down” crowd.
But to suggest that Lil Wayne is somehow a revolutionary or that booking Kendrick Lamar is a sellout move made to appeal to white people is… WOW.
God forbid if Wayne was to leave this earth right now, the culture would be in mourning. That’s why so many ppl keep saying to give our legends their flowers while they are still around to smell them. Sitting around all day playing games with ppl life & legacy. God ain’t sleep. Gee Roberson you will learn that, too.
For those who don’t know, Gee Roberson is the co-CEO of Blueprint Group, which has had a hand in managing the careers of several high profile artists, including Young Money’s roster with Drake, Wayne, and Nicki, although they parted ways with Nicki some time ago. However, he cut his teeth at Jay’s Roc-A-Fella Records a decade before; it seems Nicki is suggesting that he prioritized his relationship with Jay over those with his more recent charges. She, again, has a bit of a point about giving legends flowers while they’re still around, something hip-hop still struggles with. That’s not the same thing as booking him to perform the biggest corporate event of the year when he’s repeatedly proven that would be a bit of a bad bet this year alone.
When Nicki received pushback for her initial tweets and also she accused blogs covering the Super Bowl selection of being paid off (her go-to accusation, although I personally have never seen any of that money), she doubled down, railing in a follow-up tweet:
God will punish you. Mark my words.
The man that has not only pushed his pen the hardest, but gave the game more than 1 hip hop ICON as well on his watch? Represent the RAP game?!?!! The best RAPPER don’t represent the RAP GAME well enough 4u? Black ppl. Wow. If this don’t hurt your heart to read, it will one day. Look @ how our legends keep being treated. After they’ve given so much to us. Who are you?!!!! You GOD?!?!!!!! Judgmental swine DELETE!!!!!!! lol you will regret tweeting this. Life is funny that way. Don’t you dare turn your nose up @ Lil Wayne you dick munchin bozo.
She seemingly failed to notice all the tweets pointing out how the Super Bowl halftime show has only been headlined by a local act from the host city four times in the event’s 57-year history, but that’s Nicki for you. She’ll tell you a joke, but she won’t tell you a lie — just be real wrong, real loud, for most of a day.
The blowback from next year’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner selection is still breezing through hip-hop. Yesterday (September 8), Kendrick Lamar announced that he would do the honors in 2025. While Jay-Z and Rihanna showed their support, others let their disapproval be heard loud and clear.
Today (September 9), no one’s objection was louder than Nicki Minaj. In a series of post on X (formerly Twitter), Nicki accused Jay-Z of allowing his “hatred” of Drake and Birdman to overshadow what would have been a monumental moment for Lil Wayne given the championship game his heading to New Orleans.
“One n**** took a knee,” she wrote. “The other n**** took the bag. He gon get you “n*****s” in line every f*cking time.”
Nicki’s lines were stark comparisons of Colin Kaepernick and Jay-Z’s reactions to the NFL protest.
Her rant didn’t stop there. “Got everything in the world,” she wrote. “Still spiteful & evil. Disgusting. Be happy Abeg. Go be f*cking happy n****. In rap business. In women business. When you got the politicians & the police, you good tho.”
Then Nick went on to highlight how Eminem handled 50 Cent reportedly being barred from the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show stage. “Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego,” she wrote. “Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!! Nola what’s good?!!!!!! Eminem stood firm on having 50 Cent come out. A white man. Shit sad. House N***** TINGZ.”
Birdman quickly added his thoughts, writing: “These n****s p*ssy. Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne. YMCMB. Imma make these n****s respek us, on Gladys .”
In several posts Nicki Minaj praised Lil Wayne for all that he’s contributed to the culture, both seen and unseen. She also urged others to give rap legends their flowers while they are still around. Nicki ended with a note to ensure that her words weren’t a slight aimed at Kendrick Lamar, but an intentional show of disrespect aimed at Young Money.
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