Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s fan bases are facing off once again.
On Friday, Dec. 8, Minaj dropped her long-awaited fifth studio album, “Pink Friday 2,” which has completely taken over the iTunes charts. Her 22-track project racked up features from Drake, Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, J. Cole and many more. She also reportedly dissed rapper Latto in her song “Fallin 4 U,” however that’s speculation created by social media users.
Within a few hours of Minaj’s album release, Cardi’s debut studio album, “Invasion of Privacy” managed to find its way back in the top five on iTunes as well. Per a Cardi B fan account, the mother-of-two’s Grammy-winning project entered the top-two spot on U.S. iTunes right underneath Minaj’s album.
Cardi B’s 5-year-old album re-enters iTunes top-5 chart amid Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pink Friday 2’ release. (Left) Cardi B (Pictured: @iamcardib/Instagram) (Right) Nicki Minaj (Pictured: @nickiminaj/Instagram)
The “Bongos” rapper’s compilation of songs reached the no. 2 spot while the 12-time Grammy-nominated artist still resides at no. 1.
Although it’s unclear what prompted Cardi’s five-year-old album to re-enter the charts, many individuals have accused The Bronx native’s die-hard fanbase, Bardi Gang, of being behind this seemingly “spiteful” action.
One person on X tweeted, “Bardigang committed to the hate fr fr . Imma give them that,” followed by another handler who penned, “Bro Cardi fans are incredibly petty. And I like it.”
While some appeared to find this act comical, other users online didn’t seem to be amused. A few even suggested that Bardigang’s supposed doing was simply to reignite Cardi and Minaj’s old feud.
A few comments included, “I like Cardi and I like Nicki. Fans are 100% of the reason that they had ‘beef’ bc why yall why is this necessary,” and “This is so spiteful.”
Cardi and Minaj’s years’-long feud began back in 2017 after people started comparing them to each other, following the release of Cardi’s hit song “Bodak Yellow.” That same year, the “Super Freaky Girl” lyricists reportedly liked a comment on Instagram that dissed her fellow New Yorker.
Though both successful artists denied having problems with the other in interviews, despite nearly coming to blows at New York Fashion Week in 2018. While attending the Harpers Bazaar Icons party, Cardi attempted to fight Minaj for allegedly speaking ill about her daughter and her parenting.
Since then, the two celebs seemingly have found a way to indirectly shade each other through song lyrics, tweets, and merchandise. Even their husbands have joined in on their reported drama.
In September 2023, Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty roamed the streets of New York hoping to find Cardi’s husband and rapper Offset — who was also in the state for the MTV Video Music Awards.
In a now-deleted video, Petty claimed that Offset needed to be “planning his funeral” rather than a vacation. After his public call-out, the former Migos rapper appeared unbothered as he shared a clip of himself exiting from a private jet. He can be heard referring to Minaj’s husband and his crew as broke.
A few days after Petty’s video went viral online, he was reportedly placed on house arrest for 120 days for violating his probation. Petty was previously convicted of rape in 1994 in New York City and served four years in prison.
He then went back to jail and served another seven years after pleading guilty to manslaughter in 2006. Petty was released in 2013.