Lil’ Kim has revealed that she wants to do a Verzuz battle with Nicki Minaj in an interview ahead of today’s BET Awards.
Kim was asked on the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater during a pre-show livestream whether she would participate in a Verzuz battle, to which she promptly replied “yes”.
When she was asked if there was anybody in particular she would do it against, she answered “Nicki”. The reporter then said they would love to see that to which Kim responded “yes, me too”.
Watch the interview snippet below.
I would LOVE to see that too actually #LilKim #Nicki #Verzuz pic.twitter.com/ZNlhW1ahBi
— ♊️ (@laughomet) June 27, 2021
The two rappers had previously been engaged in a longstanding feud since the early days of Minaj’s career. The feud reportedly began in 2007, when Minaj was accused of lifting her artwork for her debut mixtape ‘Playtime Is Over’ from Kim’s artwork for debut album ‘Hard Core’.
The two continued to take hits at one another in following years, as Kim claimed Minaj wasn’t paying homage to those who paved the way for her. Minaj responded in a 2010 interview, calling Kim a “sore loser”.
The beef was further amplified within their music, with many believing Minaj’s 2010 single ‘Roman’s Revenge’ was a diss at Kim. Kim responded the next year in her second mixtape ‘Black Friday’ – a direct riff of Minaj’s debut album title ‘Pink Friday’ – with the graphic artwork depicting a decapitated Minaj.
In addition, many also believed Minaj’s 2012 single ‘Stupid Hoe’ to be about Kim. When Kim was asked what she thought of the song, she said, “If you have to make a song called ‘Stupid Hoe’, you must be a stupid hoe.”
Kim then directly referenced the accusations of Minaj’s plagiarism in the artwork for since-deleted song, ‘Identity Theft’, in 2014.
Identity theft http://t.co/f1tr6B8h32 pic.twitter.com/WyRPjKEyfp
— Lil’ Kim (@LilKim) August 6, 2014
Minaj was accused of copying Kim as recently as 2017, with an outfit she wore to Paris Fashion Week striking a resemblance to one Kim wore to the MTV Video Music Awards in 1999. Minaj later denied that she copied Kim in regards to the outfit.
As of 2018, the feud seems to have come to an end, with NME arguing that Minaj’s track ‘Barbie Dreams’ was waving the white flag between the two. That same year, Kim said she was over the feud.
“God bless her, I wish her the best,” she said when asked about Minaj.
“I’m past that I’m over it. She did what she did, until she’s ready, hopefully, God puts it on her mind to do the right thing because she knows what she did.”
Earlier this year, Kim announced that her memoir The Queen Bee will be published in November 2021.
As for Minaj, she recently made her return with the re-release of her 2009 mixtape ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’ on streaming services, which included a slew of new tracks including ‘Seeing Green’ with Drake and Lil Wayne.