If you weren’t on social media over the weekend, you missed a lot of activity about the weekend’s most-talked about celebrity feud. It all started when Meg Thee Stallion released her new song, “Hiss”, last week, which Lainey mentioned here. But it’s safe to say that the activity we saw on Friday was actually the proverbial calm before the storm - because over the weekend, a lot unfolded as Nicki Minaj and her (albeit dwindling) army of Barbz took to social media to unleash hell.

 

Fans of both camps shared their thoughts in videos on TikTok and Instagram, whereas X was on fire with memes, GIFs, one-liners and longer form explanation threads in response to the feud. 

But despite the overall comedic and lighthearted tone in a majority of the responses, some social media users were quick to point out the severity of Nicki’s husband’s crimes and their deep concern about what, exactly, might be behind what many agree is Nicki’s visible “spiralling”.

 

On each side there appears to be one main sticking point. For Nicki, it seems to be Meg’s line about Megan’s Law, which is a federal law requiring information about registered sex offenders be made available to the public. This is apparently, in part, what set Nicki off on her tangent on Friday – and the subsequent tangents over the weekend. But certainly not the only thing, with an entire song full of shots, including near the end where Meg suggests “writing him a letter”, to “download JPay”, and “schedule a conjugal visit”, which some say were all very clear shots at Nicki…and apparently they stung.

 

They stung enough, at least, for Nicki to bring up Megan’s dead mother in this tweet, and again over the course of weekend. This, many agreed, was below the belt, even for what many are calling a rap battle. People pointed out that there was no need for her to go so low, especially considering Megan’s rap did not include any names, just subliminal jabs, despite how easy they are to attribute to her targets.  

Nicki continued tweeting over the weekend, which was met with confusion and a growing demand for her to get off Twitter and into a recording booth, instead. So last night, when she finally did release “Big Foot”, her response to ”Hiss”, it didn’t land the way she intended it to. It could have had to do with the delay in her response time, the song essentially being a compilation of her tweets over the last 72 hours or just an overall lack of quality in everything from the beat to the bars. Or perhaps it was the fact that it was riddled with inconsistencies.

 

The thing about traditional rap beefs, or a beef of any kind across any genre, is that you have to be quick on your feet. Like, a freestyle battle isn’t a freestyle battle if, before the mic is passed to you, you have to take a pen and notepad and write down your rhymes and disses. These battles are specifically meant to showcase your quickness, your stealth, and your ability to obliterate your opponent at a moment’s notice.

One narrative I’ve seen evolving over the weekend is how much more interesting the beef between dancehall stars Jada Kingdom and Stefflon Don from earlier in January was. It may have been a lot less talked about in mainstream media, but that was a spectacle for two reasons. The first is how quick these women were with their comebacks, and the second was because they were both really invested in annihilating each other. But Nicki has pretty much been arguing with herself all weekend while Meg was backing that ass up on Victoria Monet in L.A. on Saturday. In a 70s afro. 

Who’s more pressed? You do the math.

In Nicki’s defence, she did say ”Big Foot” wasn’t a diss track, slamming Pop Base for calling it that while sharing the cover art for it. But given the lyrics and content and TIMING of the song, most would agree it is a diss track, and that was yet another one of the inconsistencies people pointed out, which by far, has been my favourite thing about this feud. Because the assessment of the lyrics escalates this from “petty rap beef” or “cat fight” to an exercise in critical thinking and gives us an opportunity to go beneath the surface and truly assess the validity of a lot of these claims.

 

The one thing I’ve seen with this feud, which differs greatly from Nicki’s feuds with other stars, is just how many of her Barbz have found this specific moment to be the one that made them turn in their stanhood. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still basking in the loyalty of her most devoted Barbz, who have been busy over the weekend doxing anyone that went against their Queen. But I was truly taken aback by so many of the responses to her tweets, her livestreams and ultimately, her diss track from former fans that described no longer supporting her music, her messages and even going so far as to say they’re embarrassed they were ever fans of hers.

There’s been a lot of conversation surrounding the destruction of what, by all means, was an amazing legacy. Let’s not forget that at her peak, which in this case, is less about age and more about her ability to perform, to rap, to execute, Nicki was arguably the most famous female rapper of all time, crossing genres and becoming a staple in pop culture.

Perhaps Cardi B, another one of Nicki’s enemies, had a point in saying that men can be your downfall. Several weeks ago, she was on social media lamenting the fact that at the height of her career, she married Offset. She talked about how much further ahead in her career she could have been if she had just focused on her career instead of romance. And perhaps for Nicki, the reason for her downfall is something similar - the fact that she chose to partner with someone when she did, but especially the person she chose to partner with. Because there’s a lot of things fans, stans, critics and even opponents can look past. But his crimes and her unwavering loyalty to him aren't among them.