Nicki Minaj stopped her set in New Orleans on Friday to seemingly shade Kanye West.
During her headlining performance at the Essence Festival of Culture, the rapper, 39, told her DJ to unplug “Monster,” a song she collaborated on with West, 45, in 2010.
“I’m ‘Monster’-ed out, and we don’t fk with clowns,” she explained to the crowd, before changing the subject and saying she “wanted to give New Orleans a shout.”
Interestingly, the apparent dig came the same day Cardi B released her new song “Hot S–t,” featuring West.
As many of her beloved Barbz know, Minaj has publicly argued with Cardi, 29, in the past.
While it’s unclear why Minaj chose to seemingly cast shadow at Ye during her set, some fans speculated that the two were arguing. They believe the tension has built amid the drama surrounding Ye’s God-focused album and the canceled release of their song “New Body.”
The two rappers were originally expected to release the song on the canceled album “Yandhi”, which was scrapped and replaced by West’s album “Jesus is King”.
Minaj spoke out about the highly anticipated “New Body” collaboration with West in 2019, telling The Shade Room at the time that she and the Chicago-born rapper “didn’t agree.”
Minaj then admitted there was some tension between the two artists and their unreleased song in a February interview.
She claimed Ye had her rewrite her verse four times to fit true [Kanye West] was creative and spiritual, only to look on the internet a few months later [West] on Drink Champs.”