By: Maribelle Gordon

Rap beef is officially back–and this round is between arguably the two hottest female rappers in the game right now.

Back in January, Megan Thee Stallion shocked the internet with the release of her single “HISS”, which has all the elements of an all-time great diss track. The song is aggressive, creative, and showcases her undisputed talent as a rapper. 

Despite the fact that most of the lyrics seemed to point to her interactions with Drake, along with other artists in the industry, one line in particular has sparked attention and awoken some sort of mania-fueled response in Nicki Minaj. 

The internet was buzzing after hearing a lyric regarding Megan’s Law, a federal law passed in the 90’s that essentially requires the government to make information about sex offenders available to the public. Although this was the only line that seemed targeted at Minaj, it definitely packs a punch as it shines a light on the pasts of her husband and brother who are both convicted sex offenders. 

Minaj has been criticized heavily for her continuous defense of both individuals, so although Megan hasn’t stated explicitly that this line was about Minaj, most fans (and Nicki) have assumed the line is directed towards her. 

A lyric regarding this topic was bound to stir controversy, so it’s not surprising that it garnered a response from Nicki. However, the reaction that she had was unexpected to say the least. Within hours of the song dropping, the “Queen of Rap” was having somewhat of a public meltdown on social media. She went on Instagram live and previewed some interesting lyrics from a response track that ended up dropping just three days after the release of “HISS”. 

While Megan’s track was received fairly well by mainstream rap audiences, Nicki’s “Big Foot” didn’t fare as well for many reasons, not the least of which being that most of the lyrics are just cheap shots, uncreative, and an incredible showcase of deeply internalized misogyny. Several lyrics in the song, as well as the title itself, refer to the 2020 incident involving Tory Lanez shooting Megan in the foot, a crime for which he has now been convicted and imprisoned. I was personally unimpressed with these lyrics not only in their lack of creativity, but also in that they make light of a situation Megan received backlash for, despite the fact that she was a victim of gun violence and domestic abuse.

While Megan implemented a fairly controversial topic into her lyrics, her “Megan’s Law” lyric was pointed at perpetrators of these crimes, not the victims. While diss tracks by nature should be targeted and somewhat controversial, “Big Foot” utilizes victim-blaming, slut-shaming, and jokes about Megan’s deceased mother. Looking past these disappointing creative decisions, the song isn’t even well-produced or constructed. It’s not anywhere close to Minaj’s best work and feels outright lazy and cringeworthy. A significant chunk of the song isn’t even rapping over a beat—it’s just Nicki blabbering on an awkward, music-less rant that probably should’ve stayed in her Voice Memos app. 

Minaj has even stated that she has several other songs she could release attacking Megan Thee Stallion, which is quite a reaction to a singular bar in a diss track. As exciting and entertaining as it is for the rap industry to see any sort of beef between two mainstream artists, it has been a little disappointing to watch Minaj’s unhinged reaction to a song that mostly isn’t about her. She has already tainted her career with a predictable over usage of sampling and interpolation that has come to define nearly all of her recent releases, and putting this diss track out sets her even further apart from the “Queen of Rap” image we had all come to know. 

Nicki has done so much work to make room for women in a male-dominated music genre, so it’s disheartening to watch her tear another female artist down using the kind of rhetoric that makes it harder for women to succeed in rap in the first place. 

As of February 5, Megan’s single has debuted in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Global 200, while Minaj continues to receive backlash and disappointment from fans regarding her response. Although Nicki’s discography has already cemented her as an icon of rap music, this may be the shift into a new era for female rap in which Megan Thee Stallion is the industry’s it-girl.