Cardi B is back musically, and the world is eating up her new song with Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP,” which stands for something very not safe for work. Now that it seems she’s taken the lid off of a new era of music with her latest single, Cardi’s doing the rounds of promotion and talking women in hip-hop. There are few women that have topped the charts like Cardi and she’s giving homage to one of them.
Though her latest collaboration is with Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi’s gotten some of her largest hits off of the features that she’s done with other artists. Her chart topping collab with Bruno Mars, “Finesse (Remix),” was #3 on the charts. Her Maroon 5 guest spot on “Girls Like You” actually hit #1 and established Cardi as a force in her own right and it safe to say that “WAP” will be another Top 10 hit, having already hit #1 on Apple’s charts already.
While Cardi’s having a great time at the top of the charts, there’s one fellow artist that she’s seemed to either not speak on or avoid discussing because of Internet, and real life, drama – Nicki Minaj. Nicki’s reign on the charts preceeded so many of her now peers and it seems as if they are finally trying to give her some props for paving the way for them.
Nicki’s been active this summer musically as well, even with her recent news.
Nicki Minaj announced her pregnancy, confirming Internet rumors and other cryptic posts she’d made over the preceding months seeming to indicate a baby on board. In typical Minaj fashion, she debuted new pregnancy photographs, taken by celebrity photographer David La Chappelle. The pregnancy pics have garnered almost 25 million likes on the platform, cementing Minaj’s influencing power as well as her musical legacy.
Nicki Minaj hit the music industry with a high kick when her mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty first dropped in 2009, and she’s not left the world stage since. Being one of the only women artists on Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, Nicki’s left her mark on the hip-hop world, boasting one of the lengthiest careers for a woman hip-hop artist, ever.
Even in 2020, Nicki Minaj has had two #1 hits this summer alone. Her song with Tekashi 6ix9ine, “TROLLZ” hit with massive numbers and giving 6ix9ine his first #1 as a solo artist. She also had the “Say So” remix with Doja Cat, giving her the second #1 of the year. Despite the fact that both of these artists have had their own scandals, Nicki’s star power definitely helped these songs to their #1 status.
It seems as if Cardi may be willing to put their beef aside since the both of them are now mothers, giving Nicki – without mentioning her name directly – props for her career and how she’s sustained her hit status and legendary place in the industry.
“When I was younger…when I was 6, 7, 8, there was a lot of female rappers and then there was a time when there was no female rappers at all,” Cardi told Nadeska from Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio when asked about the female rappers she looked up to growing up. “I had to keep replaying songs from the early 2000s. Like, I had to keep replaying it, replaying it, replaying it because for a while there wasn’t no female rappers. And then, there was one female rapper that dominated for a very long time and she did pretty good and still dominating.”
While it’s clear that the two may not be best of friends, it doesn’t mean that they are “beefing.” Fans took to social media channels to wish the pair the best, and also hope that they might come together to collaborate in a music meetup for the times.
Cardi B seemingly praises a female rapper in an Apple Music interview, in which many assume is Nicki Minaj:
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 7, 2020
“Then there was this one female rapper who came out and was dominating for a very long time and she still is dominating.” pic.twitter.com/uBBvrL80jN
See the full interview below.