By: Charlie St. Dennis

*Warning: This article contains some references to sexual abuse

In July 2019, rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj joined each other on an Instagram live stream and exchanged praises for each other after the release of their joint single “Hot Girl Summer”, which had recently entered the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles. Just under 5 years later, the two rappers would be making headlines across the world for their beef. So, how did we get here?

Megan and Nicki have had longstanding drama for the course of a few years, but it hit perhaps its lowest point on January 29th, 2024 upon the release of Megan’s new single, “Hiss.”

Like most songs, the lyrics were quickly broken apart and analyzed by listeners, and one that stood out occurs about one minute into the song, when Megan raps, “These h**s don’t be mad at Megan, these h**s mad at Megan’s Law.” This lyric is in reference to the federal law “Megan’s Law” which mandates law enforcement to make all information about registered sex offenders available to the public, after a young girl named Megan was molested in California.

Listeners believe this lyric was added in reference to Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, who is a registered sex offender from a sex crime he committed in 1995. When asked about it by radio and TV host Wendy Williams in 2019, Minaj said, “I didn’t know that in our society, you have to be plagued by your past. I didn’t know that people can’t turn over a new leaf.”

Considering this is something that Minaj has touched on, much to her dislike, it will not surprise you to hear that once she heard “Hiss”, she had her thoughts. Minaj went on a very agitated rant about Megan on an Instagram Live stream and heavily referenced the rapper’s famous incident with Tory Lanez where she ended up shot in the foot. Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison last year after a lengthy trial.

A few Instagram Lives and X posts later, Minaj dropped a lethal diss track, titled “Bigfoot”, in reference to Megan Thee Stallion being shot in the foot. Lyrics in “Bigfoot” targeting Megan include “lyin on your dead momma,” “bad b***h, she like 6 foot, I call her big foot, the b***h fell off, I said get up on your good foot,” along with others. In the last minute of the song, Minaj begins a whispered spoken word where she claims that she is “very serious,” even more will be coming out in “the second installment” and that “we’ll all play the reindeer games,” which I think means if you speak about family and relatives, we all will.

“Hiss” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and is said to be the second single of an upcoming album and Megan will be going on a tour this upcoming summer. “Bigfoot” debuted at #24 and it is unclear if it will appear on an album. Minaj will embark on her “Pink Friday 2: Welcome To Gag City” tour on March 1st, and will visit Target Center on April 27th.