Nicki Minaj Says She Didn’t “Slam” Kanye For “Gold Digger” Lyrics

If you thought Nicki Minaj was dissing Kanye West in her November cover interview with Marie Claire, you weren't paying attention. The rapper and well-known Yezzy acolyte said that many readers mistook her remarks about a controversial "Gold Digger" lyric as slamming Ye, when actually she was thanking him for telling the truth. In Minaj's interview with Marie Claire, she revisited a lyric from West's 2005 track. "It wasn’t funny when Kanye said, ‘When he get on, he’ll leave your ass for a white girl,' and Kanye happens to be with a white girl now," Minaj said. "It wasn’t funny when he said it; it was the fucking truth.” When Cosmopolitan called Minaj's comment a diss, the rapper fired back on Twitter. She wasn't "slamming" Ye, she said. "'Slams' a man/genius who gave me one of the biggest looks of my career?" Minaj asked, referencing her verse on Kanye's 2010 track "Monster." "I said he wasn't kidding, he was speaking the TRUTH about d industry."

In "Gold Digger," Kanye gets real about something Black women often talk about: the frequency with which we're outgrown or cast aside when Black men achieve success. Toward the end of the song, Kanye raps a plea to Black women to keep supporting Black men on their quest for achievement. And then, he continues, "When you get on, he'll leave your ass for a white girl." The line seems ironic in retrospect, now that Kanye himself is married to a white woman. But on Twitter, Minaj clarified that her comments had nothing to do with Kanye's life, his marriage, or interracial dating. The rapper was just making a point of saying that Kanye's lyrics rang very true. "I was saying he's the one who said it first. He doesn't apologize for his choices. He tells the truth about stuff ppl don't wanna hear!"

So, there you have it: Noted media critic Nicki Minaj wasn't disparaging Kanye, she was just pointing out what she sees as an uncomfortable reality in her industry.