It’s not a real rap feud unless politicians are involved, or at least that seems to be the case for New Yorkers Cardi B and Nicki Minaj. On Wednesday, Queens-born Minaj endorsed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Twitter, saying, “It’s time to get justice.” It took Bronx-born Cardi B less than 24 hours to jump into the conversation by backing progressive candidate and former Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon with an Instagram post calling for New Yorkers to vote for Nixon in the primary.
Nixon thanked the Bronxite rapper on Twitter in return.
The rappers supporting opposing candidates comes after the two had an explosive encounter at Harper’s Bazaar New York Fashion Week after party, where Cardi B threw a shoe at Nicki Minaj and was escorted out of the Plaza Hotel – shoeless. Minaj later slammed Cardi B for her past comments on Black women and questioned her rise through hip-hop’s ranks on her Beats 1 show Queen Radio. “You came into my fucking culture,” Minaj said.
Cardi B has remained silent, only posting photos on Instagram that signal she’s only fighting this one with numbers and actions – not insults. On Insta, she posted a photo of the 10 best-selling hip-hop albums of 2018, which conspicuously didn’t include Minaj’s Queen album. “Numbers don’t lie,” the post read. Bardi also posted a video of her first tour and captioned it saying she rose to fame with no radio play and no payoffs, contradicting Minaj’s suggestions that Cardi’s fame had more to do with payola than talent.
Naturally, when Minaj endorsed Cuomo, who’s served as governor of New York State since 2011, Cardi B fans quickly asked the Bronxite to endorse progressive newcomer Nixon. The endorsement does make sense. In the past, Cardi B has made headlines for asking the government not to disclose where her taxes are being allocated, a concern that aligns more with Nixon’s universal health care and minimum wage policies. She’s also been vocal about the impact mass incarceration has on communities like the Bronx, which is also a key platform for Nixon.
We never expected this beef to get political, but when you have a reality TV star as president, nothing is surprising. Now that the stakes in this primary are hip-hop worthy, fans on both sides are twice as excited to see who comes out the victor in this election. This is what Twitter is saying.