Cardi B may not be the drama, but she’s certainly in some right now.
The Bronx rapper dropped her sophomore album, “Am I the Drama?” on September 19, and while it’s been climbing the charts, the rollout has been overshadowed by an all-too-familiar scene—her long-running feud with Nicki Minaj.
On social media this week, the tension boiled over between the 32-year-old “Bodega Baddie” rapper and the 42-year-old “Barbie World” performer. Nicki fired shots at Cardi’s daughter Kulture, allegedly calling her “ugly” amid other derogatory insults mocking her appearance, including “monkey.” Cardi hit back by dragging Nicki’s son—nicknamed “Papa Bear”—into the feud, claiming he was “nonverbal,” insinuating his mother’s past alleged drug use may have impacted him before apologizing to him directly.
“Lord protect my babies,” Cardi wrote in the post that quickly went viral.
Nicki also made digs at Cardi’s appearance while pregnant, posting an AI image of her as Barney the purple dinosaur and dubbing her “Barney B.”
She even parodied Cardi’s lyrics in a sing-song taunt, “Abcdefgeeeeeeee / Fallin off the charts wit a big bellyyyy / RUNNING TRAINS / Barefoot, still smellyyyyy / Still. You. Could. Not. outsell. Meeeeee.”
This round of fighting erupted after Nicki mocked Cardi’s album promotion, accusing her of inflating sales numbers by pricing it at $4.99. Cardi clapped back that Minaj should “compare yourself to your peers,” naming artists like Drake and Rihanna instead of fixating on her.
As Cardi pointed out, Nicki debuted in the late 2000s while she was still in high school, making them from different rap eras altogether. Nicki has since accused Cardi of jealousy, while Cardi has doubled down by questioning Nicki’s staying power. Screenshots, memes, and messy fan accounts have kept the feud trending daily.
The feud, however, didn’t start here. It dates back to Cardi’s breakout in 2017, when fans noticed she rarely credited Nicki for paving the way for women in rap. Things escalated with a swirl of subtweets, alleged industry blocking, and icy interviews, culminating in their infamous 2018 brawl during New York Fashion Week—where Cardi allegedly hurled a shoe and left with a lump on her forehead after security stepped in. Since then, their rivalry has simmered in waves, surfacing whenever one drops new music.
This time, though, fans aren’t laughing. Many have expressed disgust at both women for weaponizing children in their fight, pointing out that, as mothers, they should know better. Social media has been full of frustrated commentary calling the feud “low” and “gross,” with some supporters begging them to finally squash it.
And all of this is unfolding during what may be the most chaotic album rollout in recent memory. In the weeks leading up to “Am I the Drama?”, Cardi confirmed her pregnancy in an interview with Gayle King, revealing she’s expecting her first child with NFL star Stefon Diggs.
The announcement came as she was already facing public scrutiny over her separation and divorce from Offset, whom she shares three children, including her daughter Kulture. Add in messy podcast spats, viral courtroom memes, and now a renewed war of words with Nicki Minaj, and the album cycle has become a spectacle befitting its title.
Despite the turmoil, “Am I the Drama?” debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with roughly 200,000 units sold in its first week. The album has already gone double platinum, making it one of the highest-certified female rap albums of the decade.
