Lil' Kim Vs. Nicki Minaj - Their Feud, And Why It Needs To Stop

  • 08 August 2014

Not like anybody is keeping score at home, but the feud between Nicki Minaj and Lil' Kim just picked up some steam again. Another war of the words, female rap mogul LIL' KIM is taking shots yet again at Minaj, but this time its gone too far. Lil' Kim didn't say anything out of the usual - it's just at the point now where it's past embarrassing, and somebody needs to tell the woman to stop.

Lil' Kim is adding fuel to the fire yet again
Image caption Lil' Kim is adding fuel to the fire yet again

Before this recent spat, what was the current status of the feud, and what was the reason for it in the first place? Ever since Minaj hit the music scene, she was subject to comparisons to other female rappers before her, but it wasn't until the 2008 mixtape, Sucka Free, that LIL' KIM started to take notice. "If you are going to steal my swag, you gonna have to pay," Lil' Kim said in regards to Minaj's early rise to success. Very intimidating. Minaj's alleged response to Kim's "copying" allegations was in her song 'Roman's Revenge' - a track off her wildly success debut, Pink Friday. Eventually, Lil' Kim fired back with more than just words - she put her disses out in the form of a mixtape in 2011 entitled Black Friday, which allegedly sold 113,000 copies in the span of a day on PayPal. Kim said that these sales made her the number one seller on the website, a claim which PayPal then denied because they don't keep track of sales. Cringeworthy.

More: Beyonce releases 'Flawless' remix, Nicki Minaj drops 'Anaconda'

When Minaj released her second album in 2012, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, the track 'Stupid Hoe' was rumored to be about Kim, and Kim went on record saying that one of the songs, 'Automatic,' sounded similar to some of her unreleased material. For a while, that was pretty much it. Both sides were quiet until this week, when Beyonce released a remix for 'Flawless' that featured Minaj. On her verse, she proclaims herself as the queen of rap, so obviously Lil' Kim must chime in and set the record straight. Barely a day later, Kim dropped a diss track to the remix, and then a day after that released yet another diss. The most recent one, titled 'Identity Theft,' has lines like "I gave birth to your style" and "Anything you trying to do, I done did it."

Next page: Why does this feud need to stop?

Image caption It's safe to say that Nicki Minaj has been in the lead from the start

Phew. Honestly, it's not even an entertaining feud. It's just straight up exhausting. Hopefully, Minaj won't even respond to LIL' KIM again. She has the potential to kill the whole thing right this very second. Who will even give Kim the time of day anymore when everybody knows that Minaj is no longer going to pay attention? She's got bigger things to worry about anyway. Along with the 'Flawless' remix, Minaj also dropped her new single, 'Anaconda,' off her upcoming album, The Pink Print. Last week, Minaj struck pop gold with her joint track 'Bang Bang' featuring Ariana Grande and Jessie J, and it debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

More: Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, and Jessie J release 'Bang Bang'

Lil' Kim, on the other hand? Erm ... she hasn't really done much of anything. In a long time. Her last album was the 2005 record, The Naked Truth, and even though a new album is apparently in the works, there's no sign of it coming out anytime soon. The logical plan is to work on the album and get your name in the press for a legitimate reason - not for jumping on another artist who's more successful than you currently are. Now, there's no denying Lil' Kim's legitimacy. She's going to go down as a legend, and she paved the way for a lot of female MCs today. But why get jealous over that fact, instead of just embracing it? Her attacks on Minaj look like a desperate attempt to stay in the public eye, because for some reason, she knows her music isn't going to do it anymore. Another logical plan? Get in the studio with Minaj and work on music together. Then you've got one of the most influential female MCs linking up with the hottest around. But she's gone and blown that now. In the future, hopefully somebody close to Lil' Kim tells her like it is - to cut out the drama and petty insults, because all it's doing is ruining the history that she spent years making.