Breaking Down Nicki Minaj’s Feud With Jay-Z

Nicki Minaj is making it clear that she is not a fan of Jay-Z.

As the “Super Bass” rapper continues to make headlines for her social media posts, fans are trying to uncover what led to her public disagreement with a music legend.

According to Complex, Minaj’s beef with Jay-Z stems from Tidal, a global music streaming service that he cofounded in 2015.

At the time of the launch, Billboard reported that artist partners such as Minaj were gifted 3 percent in equity in exchange for creating content and driving value for the subscription service. In 2021, however, Jay-Z sold the majority ownership of Tidal to Jack Dorsey’s Square company for $302 million.

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According to Minaj, she didn’t receive a fair amount of money from the deal.

“I received a call advising Tidal was sold & they made no money on the deal so all they could offer me was a million dollars,” she claimed via X in September 2024. She later alleged that she was “scammed” and declined the deal.

Us Weekly has reached out to Jay-Z’s rep and Tidal for comment.

Keep reading for a breakdown on what went wrong between Minaj and Jay-Z and where they stand today:

Nicki Minaj’s Fight for Tidal Money

Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj Kevin Mazur / Getty Images

According to Minaj, Jay-Z owes her millions of dollars from her equity in Tidal.

“We’ve calculated about 100-200MM so far,” she claimed via X on July 8. “#JayZ call me to settle this karmic debt. It’s only collecting more interest. You still in my TOP 5 tho.”

Minaj said that if she received any financial compensation, she would pay it forward to help fans with their education goals.

“I’m going to use some of the money #JayZ owes me to send some of my Barbz to college, pay their school fees & student loans via my #StudentOfTheGame charity,” she said via X.

Nicki Minaj’s Beef Over the Super Bowl Halftime Show

In September 2024, Minaj sounded off on the NFL’s decision to pick Kendrick Lamar to headline the Super Bowl LIX halftime show.

While she didn’t call out Jay-Z by name, Minaj expressed frustration that her mentor Lil Wayne wasn’t picked for the gig. (The NFL has worked with Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, to produce the annual show.)

“Denying a young Black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego,” she wrote via X at the time. “Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!! Nola what’s good?!!!!!! Eminem stood firm on having 50Cent come out. A white man.”

In a separate post, Minaj seemingly referred to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album not being nominated for any 2024 Country Music Awards.

“Yall know his next move is going to be to tell yall a ‘certain someone’ is being treated soooooo unfairly so that yall can go back into that trance,” she wrote via X. “DTLR.”

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Nicki Minaj’s History With Jay-Z

During their respective music careers, Minaj and Jay-Z have been able to collaborate at a few special events and on tracks including Kanye West’s “Monster” in 2009.

In 2010, the pair performed together at Yankee Stadium in New York City as part of Jay-Z and Eminem’s “Home & Home” concert.

The duo also sat in the same row during the 2012 BET Awards. They were only separated by Kim Kardashian and West.

Finally, when Tidal hosted a launch event in March 2015, Minaj was on hand to support Jay-Z and pose for photos with fellow artists, including Usher, Rihanna, Madonna and more.