After her newly released Queen album debuted at No. 2, Nicki Minaj went on an excuse-laden Twitter rant in which she blamed Spotify, Travis Scott, and his infant daughter for her lackluster sales. The 35-year-old rapper could’ve easily stopped there, but Nicki, being the outspoken rapper she is, had to remind everyone about her influence in the game. She even went so far as to compare herself to runaway-slave-turned-political-activist Harriet Tubman.
“All the QUEENS I remember, SHOOK SHIT UP!!!!!!!! Queen of the week may go to HARRIET TUBMAN!!!!!!” she tweeted on Monday. “Had she just sat there & ate her rice, you niggaz history would’ve been a lot less triumphant.”
To absolutely no one’s surprise, many people weren’t too happy with Nicki’s comparison, especially after she likened Tubman’s abolitionist efforts to the struggle of debuting at No. 2, behind Scott’s ASTROWORLD project.
Following the backlash, Nicki doubled down on her comments while heading to the 2018 VMA ceremony Monday night.
“I am the new Harriet Tubman,” Nicki said when TMZ asked if she thought her her comments went too far. “No, no, I am Harriet Tubman. Leave me alone.”
But Nicki wasn’t finished. During episode four of Queen Radio on Tuesday, she claimed that she “took a bullet” by speaking up about Billboard’s chart rules, which she believes helped Scott retain the No. 1 position through merch and ticket bundles. It’s important to note that Scott isn’t the first artist to use this tactic. It’s also important to note that Nicki made a similar move when she added a successful non-album single to Queen days after its initial release, thus increasing her sales figures.
“You know how many bullets I’ve taken for you motherfuckers to get streaming to count on Billboard?” she said during the broadcast. “You motherfuckers is getting streaming because somebody took that bullet, because somebody was brave enough. Somebody had a big fucking dick enough, somebody had balls enough, to say, ‘We are tired of having you steal our music and we’re not getting credited!’”
She then dragged Rosa Parks into it.
“I don’t mind taking that hit! Harriet Tubman had to shake shit up; Rosa Parks had to shake shit up,” Nicki said. “Rosa Parks probably had the worst day of her life when she said, ‘No, enough is enough.’ And y’all might laugh and say, ‘She’s comparing herself to Harriet Tubman.’ Man, fuck you—I am going to compare myself to strong, black queens.”
During Tuesday’s episode, Nicki honored Tubman with the prestigious “Queen Award.” Twitter users, of course, couldn’t help but respond.
