The Cardi B-Nicki Minaj conflict has now reached the "someone threw a shoe" phase
Because it’s apparently impossible for our culture to support the existence of two (2!) female rappers without the entire thing collapsing into a messy pile of hype, external expectations, and hurled footwear, we regret to inform you that the long-brewing conflict between the nations of Queen Nicki Minaj and Prime Minister Cardi B has escalated yet again. Specifically, we’ve now reached the “Cardi B threw a shoe and then got dragged off by security” phase of the ongoing feud, the DEFCON 2 of celebrity rapper beef. (Reminder: DEFCON 1 is the one where shit goes completely crazy and we all fucking die.)
The incident in question reportedly went down at New York Fashion Week last night, where Cardi apparently took issue with Minaj liking social media posts about her suitability as a mother. (She gave birth to her first child back in July.) We’re gleaning these motivations mostly from an Instagram post Cardi posted in the aftermath in the incident, since, at the time, her message was a more simple “I have a shoe, and I’d like you to take a closer look at it.”
To be fair to Cardi, a Swiss judge found just last year that “liking” a post on Facebook could be a legally prosecutable action, so, you know: The law is pretty clearly on her side here. (Also, she missed.) But while it’s hard not to treat this incident with the natural glee that greets pretty much any incident in which someone is so mad a shoe is thrown, it’s also pretty disappointing to see this “beef”—which presumably couldn’t happen without millions of people psychically willing it into existence, and a musical culture that treats a successful female rapper as some kind of limited-space novelty that people have to fight each other to achieve—taking another step toward reality.