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Nicki Minaj Has Missed Her Deadline

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NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 15: Rapper Nicki Minaj attends TIDAL X: 1015 on October 15, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images for TIDAL)

Jamaica, Queens is still in mourning after this weekend, when Remy Ma fired at hometown hero Nicki Minaj with “shETHER,” a seven-minute felony that’s unquestionably one of the most vicious diss tracks we’ve heard in years. Rapping over Nas’ “Ether” beat, Remy Ma:

  1. Alleged that Minaj had sexual relations with Trey Songz, Hot 97 personality Ebro Darden, fellow Young Money crewmates Drake and Lil Wayne.
  2. blasted her for defending her brother Jelani, who’s been accused of raping a 12-year-old girl.
  3. Flamed her for allegedly using ghostwriters.
  4. Reminded listeners that “Pills and Potion” was a single.

She even went as far as to reference M.O.P’s robbery anthem “Ante Up,” which is significant not only because it’s the most New York-as-fuck bar in years, but because Remy’s threats of real violence should not be taken idly.

What’s unfolded since has been unquestionably bad for Nicki. She Instagrammed and deleted a news clip to poke fun at Plato o Plomo, Remy Ma and Fat Joe’s low-selling collaboration LP, and went on to post a clip of Beyoncé calling her the “rap queen” to the tune of “Darling Nikki. She posted another of her hanging out with Monica. (Beyoncé hasn’t defended Minaj in this ongoing beef, presumably because she’s got more important shit to worry about, like those twins. Monica has been through too much. She doesn’t care about rap beef.)

There’s been some smoke from Nicki, but no fire. In her defense, Nas took months to respond to Jay Z’s “Takeover” with “Ether.” But rap, like everything else, moves much quicker nowadays, and sitting on a response for months is not really feasible. Hip-hop’s epicenter has shifted in the past decade and a half, but Remy and Minaj’s contention immediately draws back to the genre’s belief in the transformative power of competition. In hip-hop competition, rappers be rapping, and quite simply, Minaj is blowing her deadline, as Remy herself rapped:

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I’m gettin’ money like Nicky Barnes, I’m the big homie
I responded in less than 48 Hours; Nick Nolte

Remy recorded and released her diss tack just 48 hours after the release of Gucci Mane and Minaj’s “Make Love,” which contained bars Remy (and most everyone else) assumed were meant for her. But in the 48 hours since “shETHER,” Minaj has seemed content with posting photos of her famous friends.

Some of the libertines dragged into this conflagration have responded, though. Over the weekend, Ebro Darden tweeted that Remy was lying—a claim her husband Papoose took affront to, because the radio personality was allegedly “happy as hell that Remy said it.”

On Instagram, Trey Songz also denied Remy’s claim, and went on Twitter bemoaning that he was just out here minding his business. Minaj took issue with the latter, saying in a since-deleted tweet that “Real niggaz do real things. I done gotchu 6 million plaques.” Songz, a voice of reason, responded “you need to be mad at Remy Nicki” and punctuated the tweet with the disappointed emoji—a universally-felt reaction to Minaj’s comebacks.

#PressPlay: #TreySongz makes a video to deny the accusations that he and #NickiMinaj slept together

A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on

Almost everyone, outside of the Young Money camp at least, is spoken for. As for the woman of the hour, the wait continues.

 

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