Remy Ma
If keeping tabs on Remy Ma and Nicki Minaj dominated most of your week, you are not alone.
Last Saturday, Remy dropped the track ShETHER, a near-seven minute obliteration aimed at Nicki Minaj. The song — taking both its title and beat from Nas’ 2001 Jay Z diss track Ether — runs through a list of claims against Nicki Minaj that extend from boardroom to bedroom.
From accusing her of sleeping with Lil Wayne, Drake, Trey Songz, Hot 97’s Ebro Darden and Gucci Mane, to having implants that prevented her from being intimate with her ex Meek Mill for three months, a lot was put on display.
Furthermore, there were remarks on Nicki Minaj supporting her brother who was reportedly arrested for the alleged sexual assault of a minor, along with suggesting Nicki’s empire was not as lucrative as it could be since her money is filtered through multiple label entities (Young Money, Cash Money, Republic Records) before reaching her hands.
There is even a shot that Nicki allegedly stole one of Remy Ma’s most classic lines “All these b****** is my sons” from a 2009 tweet that Remy Ma said she posted while in prison. The song arrived less than 48 hours following Minaj’s not-so-subtle jab on her recent Gucci Mane collaboration Make Love that Remy Ma’s comeback project with Fat Joe, Plato o Plomo, was met with disappointing sales.
And as if that was not enough, on Thursday Remy Ma took another swing at Nicki Minaj with another diss track Another One, which premiered on Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 show.
The track borrows some notes from Drake’s playbook, referencing his Meek Mill diss track Back to Back in style and flow. It opens with an audio clip of Mariah Carey — with whom Minaj beefed with originally during American Idol – before diving in on the target.
“I guess now you know who the head b**** is/ I’m a savage/ I be killin’ dead b******/ I bet you wish that you ain’t never said sh**/ Now they so busy shooting videos/ And I’m like nah, where the f*** is your song, I mean c’mon,” raps Remy, making reference to Minaj’s recent video shoot with Future.
Remy continues, further noting Minaj’s silence since ShETHER hit: “Waited four days, ma, where you been? I came here in the ‘Rari playing Lil’ Kim / Don’t know what made you think that you could f*** with Rem. But I guess this is what I gotta do to make ya spit.”
No official audio is out yet, but rips of the track are already up.
It is clear, the Internet has been sent into a frenzy yet the two artistes beef is far from new. Here is a war that is a decade deep, punctuated with small incidents (a tweet here, a bar there) that have snowballed into this. For rap, this is one of the most significant beefs in hip-hop history.
To loosely quote, two female MCs can’t occupy the same space at the time. That’s far from new news, which in and of itself reflects the graduated value of this war. Stand on any point on an American map, and the most prominent rapper in that region will more than likely be A) a male and B) crowned “king.”
When beef occurs, it is usually over turf wars. Cut to Jay Z and Nas fighting over the “King of New York” title. Or, perhaps, it’s a novice attempting to swing overhead at a legend — Canibus and LL Cool J and Nelly and KRS One to name a few.
Nicki Minaj was the first female rapper to penetrate the mainstream since Lauryn Hill, and she has arguably surpassed her. In six years, she has released three solo albums, and is a multi-platinum recording artist beyond the rap landscape. Nicki Minaj is a greater mainstream success than most of her male rap contemporaries.
What Remy is arguing on ShETHER, however, is that if she had not served a near-decade prison bid, she would be in Nicki Minaj’s place. That is up for debate, but her return — despite the lacklustre sales of her Plata O Plomo — was still a warm welcome. Her collaboration with Fat Joe and French Montana
All The Way Up is hit No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and that is nothing to scoff at when hip-hop’s attention span does not always permit an extended hiatus.
Remy Ma is no stranger to feuds, having had wars with Lady Luck and even Lil’ Kim, but they were lyrically-driven and on a much smaller scale.
As on Jay Z’s Nas diss “Takeover,” Hova always suggests he is too busy making money and being successful to dedicate a song to anyone. For the most part, Nicki has done the same. Her response to Remy thus far has included now-deleted screenshots of Plato o Plomo album sales and a voice note posted on her Instagram where Beyoncé sings a cappella that Nicki is the “rap queen”.
— Billboard