Nicki Minaj has taken aim at Megan Thee Stallion in hastily-recorded diss track Big Foot, the culmination of a weekend of online hostility between the rappers.
The drama began on Friday when Megan released Hiss, a hype track that sees her tee off with jibes at all her supposed detractors over three profanity-filled minutes.
The 28-year-old also dropped a YouTube video (now seen by more than five million) in which she name-checks Mariah Carey, Kris Jenner and R Kelly.
Minaj, 41, is not named but felt attacked over an apparent reference to her husband Kenny Petty - who is a convicted sex offender.
The two rappers had collaborated on the 2019 hit Hot Girl Summer but if there was any doubt of bad blood between the two, then all bets were off when Minaj posted a 3,100 characters on Twitter to leave her feelings bare.
She called Megan a liar and a flop, while also accusing her of bullying. Then on Sunday, she dropped Big Foot - the title referencing Tory Lanez shooting her in the foot. According to Minaj, Megan lied about being shot.
Developments are breaking thick and fast - with Megan yet to respond to Big Foot. But how did these two hip-hop heavyweights get to this point?
The events that led to the ‘Hiss Diss’
1995
The year that Megan is born, 16-year-old Kenneth Petty committed a first-degree attempted rape for which he is convicted. He serves four years in prison and has also been behind bars for seven years for manslaughter. Petty and Nicki Minaj meet at school.
2019
Minaj and Petty marry. In the years since, the now 36-year-old Minaj has established herself at rap’s top table while Petty has been in and out of prison, keeping a low profile.
That year, Megan’s mother dies. The establishing rapper releases breakout hit Hot Girl Summer, which features Minaj.
2020
Megan and Cardi B release WAP. The song is a huge hit and a campaign involves donating proceeds to a women in need campaign. Years later, Minaj releases her album Pink Friday 2 which is a hit, although 100,000 sales are discounted by the US chart for a promotion Minaj deployed to encourage fans to buy more copies. Minaj feels that the songs were given unequal treatment.
2024
Megan releases diss track Hiss. Among the many barbs, she sings: “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law.”
This references a US law change that has made information about registered sex offenders available to the public. It basically outed Perry’s history to the wider public and led to Minaj and her husband on the receiving end of controversy and bad press.
Petty has recently been put under house arrest after failing to notify his neighbours that he was a registered sex offender.
How did Nicki Minaj respond?
It was only one line of a song but Minaj has responded thoroughly.
On Twitter and Instagram Live, Minaj called Megan a liar and a “disgusting serpent”.
Then in a lengthy tweet, she set out her own album sales against those released by her rival. In the post, she hit out against “bullying” and then doubled down on her “liar” rhetoric, accusing her of employing a ghostwriter for her lyrics.
On Instagram Live, Nicki added: “You bringing up 30-year-old tea from when this man was a 15-year-old child. You bringing up 30-year-old tea cause no man will ever f***ing love you, and lying on your dead mother.”
Finally, she released Big Foot. The diss track was named in reference to Tory Lanez being found guilty of shooting the rapper in the foot last August.
As of Monday afternoon, Megan has not responded.
