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Did Nicki Minaj Accuse Cardi B Of Stealing Her Style?

Posted byBy Daryl Nelson | Published on: | Updated on July 2, 2018 CommentsComments (0)
cardi b nicki minaj no limit

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It’s possible that Nicki Minaj thinks Cardi B is copying her style based on a recent tweet she sent.

Nicki didn’t accuse Cardi of stealing from her outright, she just posted a tweet around the time her fans, the Barbz, commented that Cardi used her style in G-Eazy’s “No Limit” video. In short, people said the “Bodak Yellow” creator took a lot of Nicki’s look, her facial expressions and overall swagger.

“Cardi B looks just like Nicki Minaj in that new “No Limit video,” wrote Twitter user Nasir.

“No shade or anything, but is it just me or did anyone else notice that Bardi’s silver wig with a black background on ‘No Limit’ looks like Nicki’s silver wig and black background on the “My N—- Remix,” another person tweeted.

“All these animated faces,” a third person wrote, who posted a photo to show other similarities between the two rappers.

https://twitter.com/diorleshalles/status/943620409831825408

But there were also people who called “The Pinkprint” rapper a hypocrite because she was accused of taking Lil’ Kim’s style when she first came on to the scene. There were the colored wigs Nicki wore like Kim, the overtly sexual lyrics she delivered, not to mention the barely-anything-there outfits.

Plus, who could forget the striking resemblance of the promotional photo Nicki released in 2007 that was almost identical to the poster Lil Kim’s released for her debut album “Hardcore.”

cardi b nicki minaj no limit

Eventually, it appears Nicki caught wind of the Twitter discussion about herself and Cardi and posted a comment that seemed to agree with what everyone said about being copied, although she never mentioned Cardi’s name or said she had a problem with her. But Nicki also didn’t shoot down the opinions that the Bronx rapper took her style either.

On top of that, Cardi rapped in Spanish, as did Nicki in recent months. Cardi on the song “”La Modelo” with Ozuna and Ms. Minaj on a remix to “Krippy Kush” with Farruko.

“I’m glad ya’ll peeped,” tweeted Nicki.

Afterwards, Nicki’s followers assured her that they’ll always “peep” those kinds of things and continue to have her back.

Surely, talk about one rapper copying from another has been a part of hip-hop since the genre’s inception. Although people may not get called out for it as much these days, stealing from an artist is still considered taboo.

For example, one of the more recent times this occurred was when Ghostface Killah and Action Bronson got into it.

Since Bronson came on the scene in 2011, he’s been accused of stealing the Wu-Tang legend’s cadence and voice inflections, which Ghost seemed okay with for a while. But once Bronson went on ESPN and said Ghost “doesn’t rap like this anymore,” the Staten Island MC responded with a video that had the internet buzzing for weeks.

Before Bronson and Ghost’s famous feud, people said the rappers Shyne and Guerilla Black stole from the Notorious B.I.G.

Whether you agreed with that theory or not, some might say it was hard not to notice the voice similarities between the two rappers, specifically the deep, throaty voice, the dramatic pauses Big used between words and even some of Shyne and Black’s adlibs sounded like the late rhymer’s.

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By the way, it looked, copying or biting one’s style was a big part of Young Thug and Lil Wayne’s beef too.

Thug used Wayne’s sing-songy vocal delivery, his scratchy high pitched and even named one of his mixtapes “Barter 6,” like Wayne’s “Tha Carter V” album. But that was more of a taunt than anything else.

The you-took-my-style accusation even occurs in the highest A-list levels of rap music, like when Kanye West accused JAY-Z of stealing one of his ideas.

“I told Jay I did a song with Coldplay, next thing I know he got a song with Coldplay,” Ye rhymed in his song “Big Brother.”

But just like Ye did with Jay and Bronson with Ghost, Thug admitted that Wayne was one of his favorite artists and never denied being influenced by him. Cardi B said similar things about Nicki and has given her praise as well.

So the question is, when does being influenced and paying tribute to an artist turn into outright stealing? It’s something that Snoop Dogg answered during a 2016 interview with Pigeons & Planes. 

“When I came out as a rapper, everyone had their own style,” he recalled. “If you sounded like someone else, that word was called ‘biting.’ You biting my style, you biting my sh–.”

“If you paying tribute, like I did with ‘La Di Da Di’ with Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh, I paid [tribute to]n—– who I grew up loving,” added Snoop. “I’m gonna redo your song, get you paid all over again, and let everybody know it’s your shit … That’s a different way of showing love as opposed to everyone rapping the same style.”

So far Cardi hasn’t responded to any of the chatter about her stealing from Nicki and it’ll be interesting to see if Nicki decides to clarify her “I’m glad ya’ll peeped it” tweet at some point. 

You can see some of the twitter conversation below.

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