The beef between Nicki Minaj and Hot 97 escalated yesterday after Funkmaster Flex, one of the station’s flagship DJs, made a scathing attack on Minaj from the Summer Jam stage. “We ain’t fuckin’ with commercial rappers no more” Flex roared over the P.A. “If you lost the fuckin’ streets, it’s your fault. If you don’t go gold, it’s your fault.” It seemed that tensions were reaching a pinacle after Flex declared “I’m dedicated to tearing you down. If you not buying no more commercial albums, hit me on Twitter right now.”
Eager to let her side of the story be known, Nicki Minaj called Hot 97 with Funk Master Flex and explained why she didn’t make an appearance.
“What happened was this, my fans didn’t appreciate his comments,” Nicki Minaj said live on air. “Like I told you Flex, this was not about 2,000 people that he talking to. This was streamed to the world, that stream was posted on my website”
“This is being broadcast to the world,” Nicki said of the event was streamed across the internet.
“Flex, its not about his opinion, because I have opinions about DJS at Hot 97. I wouldnt dare come on your stage [looking for people] that concur. Everybody is grown enough to keep their opinions to their self. When you disrespect Nicki Minaj, your’e disrespecting my fans. Don’t make those three million people [feel] that they’re inferior for their personal taste in music.”
This all stems from comments by Peter Rosenberg, a host on the morning show, who had some disparaging remarks made towards Nicki Minaj in the name of “real Hip-Hop.”
Nicki responded: “When you invite somebody to your home, you treat somebody with respect.”
Nicki said that after Lil Wayne called off Summer Jam, she was forced to not to perform even though she wanted to continue on.
“Nobody would have even known I had a problem with this. I’m not a quitter and I don’t back down from anything. Wayne gave me a very good lesson on knowing my worth. Wayne has been my mentor, Wayne got me in this game. Lil Wayne gave me a lesson in self worth.”
Nicki claimed that she had promoted the annual Summer Jam concert, attended by about 60,000 people, on her website and other means.
Having said her piece, Nicki proceeded to take Flex on directly.
“Why you ain’t diss Wayne? Why you ain’t diss Wayne?” Nicki asked of Flex, suggesting that she was being singled out.
“I’m not scared of Wayne,” Flex eventually retorted, though he seemed somewhat less confrontational than when he was on the Summer Jam stage.
Nicki went on: “Yesterday, you made a lot of disrespectful comments about me. You said something about my record sales and so I need you to pull up your roster from yesterday and I want you to listen to these statistics.” Nicki then proceeded to run through all the records that she sold. “Do the math,” she implored Flex.
Flex wanted to differentiate between album sales in the United States and international. Right now, Nicki’s album has yet to sell gold domestically.
It remains to be seen how this drama plays out.
