Cardi B Calls Out Wiz Khalifa For Pitting Her Against Nicki Minaj In A Shady Grammys Tweet

Ever since her song “Bodak Yellow” blew up in 2017, Cardi B has seen herself pitted against fellow rap superstar Nicki Minaj by fans and media eager for drama and intolerant of two women simply coexisting. Despite their very different rap styles, the two have been compared and debated ever since it became clear that Cardi was able to take advantage of opportunities Nicki never could — mainly because Nicki had to create those opportunities and didn’t pull the ladder up behind her.

But fans still can’t resist taking every chance to disparage one in favor of the other and both seem pretty much over it. However, when one fan received a celebrity cosign from one of their male peers, Cardi wasn’t about to let his transgression slide. The fan, who seemed miffed about the recently announced 2021 Grammy nominations, replied to Wiz Khalifa’s observation on the nominations and when Wiz quote-tweeted the reply with a cryptic comment of his own, Cardi was quick to pull receipts to show how quickly people in the industry can switch up.

“As a grammy nominated artist, I know how it feels,” Wiz wrote. “N****s always think its unfair until they get their turn. Just keep workin and that time’ll come through.” However, one fan’s response was much less gracious. “Cardi wining a Grammy when nicki minaj didn’t is the biggest proof that they don’t know a shit bout music,” the fan replied. Naturally, the terms “Nicki” and “Barb” both appeared in the fan’s handle.

When Wiz responded “Most self-made artists have this problem,” Cardi caught wind and interpreted the tweet as shade. While Wiz likely didn’t mean to shade Cardi, the implication that she was “an industry plant” has dogged her for her entire career, so it makes sense she’d infer this meaning, especially considering the wording of the quoted tweet. She questioned, “I don’t understand why n****s entertain tweets that pit successful women against each other? Ya not tired of that? Specially when ya was rooting hard when a bitch was at the bottom.” She then also posted a screenshot of Wiz sending encouragement to her through her Instagram DM back in 2016.

Cardi has a point. Even if Wiz wasn’t actively trying to shade Cardi, he did amplify yet another tweet stoking a sexist feud between the two women and some fans could have interpreted it as validating the argument as well. While Wiz’s larger point — that the Grammys are largely a political exercise and that the artists who are most visible at Academy functions are the ones they’ll recognize come Award season — is right, there were far better ways to make the point. And in any case, Nicki’s hard work made it possible for Cardi to flourish at the awards. Both women have acknowledged that Nicki opened doors that were previously closed to female rappers. Rather than pushing for them to bicker and fight, we’d all be better served looking forward to their rumored collaborative reunion.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.