Collagenicki
Everything You Need to Know About the Beef Between Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Kylie Jenner, Stormi, Spotify, and Harriet Tubman
Update: On Tuesday (August 21) Nicki Minaj aired the second episode of Queen Radio, her Beats 1 show. In it, she continued to air out Travis Scott.
She said:
What we're not gonna do is have that Auto-Tune man selling fucking sweaters telling you he sold half a million albums, because he fucking didn't. You stupid fuck. You got your fucking homeboy talking for you and you got your girlfriend selling tour passes. Stop it. Knock it the fuck off.When [Travis] comes along and sells a tour pass that has nothing to do with his fucking music and says he’s sold more than Kanye West and Nas — no you fucking didn’t, keep it the fuck real. I know I’m that bitch, I know I’m Number 1.
She also talked about her performance at the VMAs last night. And why she didn't perform "Fefe" with controversial rapper 6ix9ine:
Tekashi, I wanted to perform with me at the VMAs. And somewhere along the line he didn’t get approved to perform by the powers that be. I don’t want anyone to think for a second that I would not have asked him to come on my stage to perform his amazing hit 'Fefe.' I want everyone to know my character. I would never ever ever. And it is what it is. The thing with me, when I know somebody there’s nothing you can tell me about them. That’s just how it is. So people have a lot to say because obviously the Nicki hate train is in full effect. So I laugh, I don’t give a fuck, y’all cant stop me. I ain’t going nowhere.
Stroll down to see the original story:
It's complicated.
Nicki Minaj's Queen rollout has spiraled into a war of words. A lot of things happened this week. So, Okayplayer has created a comprehensive timeline of the complicated, confusing conflict, so you don't have to worry about finding out why you've been hearing the names Harriet Tubman and Nicki Minaj being used in the same sentence.
Here's the breakdown:
Nicki's fourth studio album, Queen debuted at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 behind Travis Scott's Astroworld, but then she said it was actually the no. 1 album in the country.
\u201cTravis sold over 50K of these. With no requirement of redeeming the album! With no dates for a tour, etc. I spoke to him. He knows he doesn\u2019t have the #1 album this week. I love my fans for the #1 album in AMERICA! I\u2019ll explain on #QueenRadio 4 albums in, #1 in 86 countries \u2665\ufe0f\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534710957
\u201cUS chart preview update (via @HITSDD): Travis Scott's 'ASTROWORLD' projected to spend second week at #1 on Billboard 200. HDD numbers and more info Saturday.\u201d— chart data (@chart data) 1534551434
\u201cthings Nicki Minaj blamed for not hitting Billboard #1 w \u201cQueen\u201d: \n\n-losing 12hrs of sales bc it dropped Fri afternoon instead of midnight\n\n-Travis\u2019s merch/album bundles + Kylie/her baby promoting for Travis Scott (see below)\n\n-lack of Spotify promo (see below + Rap Caviar)\u201d— Joe Coscarelli (@Joe Coscarelli) 1534782562
\u201c+ why did Nicki add 6ix9ine\u2019s \u201cFefe\u201d as a bonus track mid-week? it earned 43 million streams last week, compared to 16.5 million for the top song originally featured on \u201cQueen\u201d \n\n#CHARTGAMES\u201d— Joe Coscarelli (@Joe Coscarelli) 1534782562
\u201cMy first album sold 400K. No one is doing that with debut albums now. So I\u2019m so grateful. I lost out on 12 hours of sales and did 200K in one week after I was supposedly cancelled. I bit my tongue last #QueenRadio but I won\u2019t On Tuesday. I love you guys so much\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534711100
She called out Spotify for allegedly messing with her album advertising, saying the streaming service sought to teach her a "lesson" after she premiered her album early on a competitor's platform, Apple.
\u201cSpotify put drake\u2019s face on every playlist but told me they\u2019d have to teach me a lesson for playing my music 10 mins early on #QueenRadio. Even tho they\u2019ve been giving away my music for free for years & I am one of the top Spotify artists of all time.\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534712865
\u201cSpotify had to teach me a lesson but rewarded the man who has had an Apple radio show the longest; inadvertently helping the Apple platform the most. Oh I can\u2019t wait for #QueenRadio on Tuesday. They took away my promotion they had promised for the 1st cpl days b/c of this. #Queen\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534713013
\u201cMy music went up on Apple so I played it. I assumed it was on Spotify & Tidal at the same time. Spotify said that Apple tweeted fans advising #Queen was up & therefore they had to teach me a lesson. But PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!!!!\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534713113
\u201cMy label didn\u2019t want to defend me for fear of Spotify trying to teach Ariana a \u201clesson\u201d too!\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534713310
She also criticized Billboard's charting stipulations, claiming the Travis Scott's merch bundles unfairly helped him get the top spot.
\u201cI looked at the numbers the Carters, Kanye, Nas, etc recently did. Travis sold 200K in his first week of clothes alone. I spoke to him last night & he said he\u2019s been selling clothes b4 the music. Billboard says they\u2019ll change the rules cuz of this, so it should be changed now!\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534711216
Then Billboard published an article yesterday noting Minaj also took advantage of merch bundles stating, "Queen, like Astroworld, saw its sales bolstered by an array of merchandise/album bundles sold via Minaj’s official website. ‘Queen’ also benefits from sales generated by a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with her upcoming co-headlining tour with Future.”
Then Minaj accused Travis Scott— who has the no. 1 album in the country, Astroworld — of using his baby's mother, Kylie Jenner, and their 6-month-old baby Stormi, to garner traction and sales.
\u201cI put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & Stormi. lol. Im actually laughing. #Queen broke the record of being number 1 in 86 countries. Thank Jesus & thank you to my fans.\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534711416
Then Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner decided to switch their VMAs seats; instead of sitting next to Nicki Minaj, as initially planned, they'll be sitting next to Cardi B.
\u201cTravis Scott Moves Seats Away From Nicki Minaj At VMAs https://t.co/HiXRwQY44h\u201d— TMZ (@TMZ) 1534787944
READ: Nicki Minaj Calls Out Spotify and Travis Scott Over "Queen" Sales
Honorable mention: Minaj also vowed to curse out Joe Budden on-air.
\u201c\ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude1c\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534712675
And then she compared herself to Harriet Tubman and, subsequently, Spotify to slavery [?]
\u201cAll the QUEENS I remember, SHOOK SHIT UP!!!!!!!! Queen of the week may go to HARRIET TUBMAN!!!!!! Had she just sat there & ate her rice, you niggaz history would\u2019ve been a lot less triumphant. \ud83e\udd84\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534791249
\u201ci-\u201d— Nicki Minaj (@Nicki Minaj) 1534801669
READ: Nicki Minaj Compares Herself To Harriet Tubman, Twitter Says She's Been Wrong
Then, Spotify responded to Minaj's accusations that they didn't promote her album in an effort to to teach her a lesson for debuting new music on Apple.
The MTV Video Music Awards airs tonight. Stay tuned for further drama updates.
