The altercation between Cardi B and Nicki Minaj (instigated by the former) that occurred at the Harper’s Bazaar ICONS party in honor of New York Fashion Week (during, of all things, a Christina Aguilera performance–if only it had been “Fighter”) has, of course, been a long time coming. Despite the fact that the rivals somehow managed to collaborate on “MotorSport” in late 2017, all veneers finally came off when Minaj allegedly made some reference to Cardi’s mothering abilities (already somewhat in question for naming her child Kulture), in addition to reaching her breaking point over “lies [Nicki has been] spreading.”
It was in that instant that, evidently, something clicked within Cardi, who could take no more as she dropped the facade of peace that had been maintained between them even at the Met Ball just a few months ago. So it was that she threw her red heel at Nicki after repeatedly screaming, “Come here bitch!,” to which Nicki tersely and regally replied, “I’m staying right here.” Elbowed by a security guard in the process of her banshee mode, Cardi incurred a now immortalized bump on the cabeza.
While the meme makers and gossip mongers are obviously hard over the photo and video analysis potential, it still leads one to recall a far ballsier and more epic fracas–the one that transpired in a now legendary elevator in 2014 post-Met Gala (these events must always happen at some faux sophisticated New York event, it would appear). You know the one: Solange standing up for her big sis for reasons now very apparent thanks to Lemonade. That Solange, thin but scrappy as she is, was so all-consumed by rage enough to take on someone with such beefcake proportions as Jay-Z is not only far more impressive than Cardi somewhat lazily taking on an opponent equal in physical stature (granted, Nicki could take anyone out with dat ass), but also nobler. For her motives behind making war were driven purely from a place of love, of loyalty.
Cardi can claim from here to kingdom come that she was defending her motherly honor, ergo her daughter, but we all know she never liked Nicki from the start. And vice versa. That Nicki maintained a calm, cool aura throughout (all captured in several images of her beaming triumphantly in front of various entities–a car, a street pole, etc.–after the party) only serves to make Cardi look the bigger fool. A look further compounded by the huge contusion on her head as a result of the one-sided brawl. Even if some might view Nicki as all talk and no action for all her cold-hearted, vengeful raps.
When Solange emerged from her one-sided blowup, conversely, she came across as the victor. Though no one knew why she did it, they could only assume it somehow involved honor. In the ongoing battle between Nicki and Cardi, however, this round only seems to prove Azealia Banks’ “way harsh Tai” assessment of Cardi as “a caricature of a black woman.“
