It seems Nicki Minaj wasn’t exaggerating when she said that new female rappers are copying her style. Recently, she and Ice Spice had a conflict after Ice was accused of stealing Nicki’s entire look. Surprisingly, people are siding with Nicki this time.
Ice has been trying hard to get Nicki’s attention ever since her former best friend, Baby Storm, leaked private messages where Ice badmouthed Nicki, even claiming that Nicki was jealous of her. Nicki cut ties with Ice after this, and since then, Ice has been doing shady things to provoke Nicki, hoping to create a “Nicki versus Meg” moment.
For those who aren’t up to date on the drama, it started a few months ago when Ice’s ex-best friend, Baby Storm, posted screenshots showing Ice’s nasty comments about Nicki. Ice was comparing Nicki to her mom, calling Nicki ungrateful and delusional.
She called her ungrateful and delusional because she claimed the Barbie producers initially asked her to do the Barbie soundtrack. Instead, she decided to give Nicki the chance, thinking Nicki’s Barbie brand would be a perfect fit. She said, “We’re releasing another record in June for the Barbie soundtrack. Barbie asked me to do it solo, but I invited her because it’s her brand. She doesn’t even see it as me doing her a favor. She’s ungrateful and delusional, just like my mom. I cut her off and won’t talk about her until January. I think she’s jealous because I own all my masters.”
However, the twist is that the song was actually offered to Nicki first, not Ice Spice. The producers had been trying to get Nicki on the Barbie soundtrack for years, but she kept turning it down due to not liking the samples they sent. They decided to give it to Ice Spice, hoping she could convince Nicki to join, which worked. The music supervisor for the Barbie movie even stated in a July 2023 interview, “They always wanted Nicki Minaj.”
Ice Spice didn’t know this and thought she was doing Nicki a favor when she was actually just a middleman. You can’t make this up! What made these screenshots even more upsetting for Nicki was that, a few weeks before Baby Storm leaked them, Ice was already getting backlash from Nicki’s fans after posting a photo with Cardi B.
Not only that, but Nicki and her fans were also giving her the side-eye after Kanye revealed on his IG stories that Ice had recorded a verse for his song “New Body” as a replacement for Nicki’s. Nicki had refused to clear her verse for the song, and Ice tried to step in without her knowing. However, once word got out that Ice had gone behind Nicki’s back, Ice’s team suddenly pulled back at the last minute. Many people called Ice a snake and accused her of using Nicki to get a hit.
So, you can see, she was already on thin ice with her shady actions. People were already annoyed, and you can imagine how furious they were when Baby Storm put these DMs on blast. Initially, Ice acted unbothered, underestimating how much Nicki’s fans supported her music. But after her last two projects flopped, she realized any chance of making up with Nicki was gone forever.
Now, she’s trying to provoke Nicki into a feud. People accused her of this when she posted a video previewing her new song “FEB.” She completely copied Nicki’s flow from her songs “Shanghai” and “Shy Rack,” and people quickly noticed. Even her mannerisms in the video were very Nicki-like.
At first, some thought she was trying to pay homage to Nicki, but others weren’t having it and dragged her hard. One person said, “Alright Barbs, this is your moment to shine. You’re always talking about people copying Nicki. If this isn’t a clear copy and paste, I don’t know what is.” Another added, “She must have taken Nicki’s team or something because this is straight from the Nicki playbook.” “Where are the Barbs at, though?”
Despite all the backlash, Ice kept pushing forward. She even fueled the copycat rumors when she finally released her song, which had a clear Nicki Minaj influence. But as usual, Ice refused to give Nicki any credit, trying instead to pass it off as her own work. In a video Ice posted of herself rapping to her new song, people couldn’t help but notice how similar her outfit was to what Nicki wore in the ‘Itty Bitty Piggy’ music video.
Nicki had a distinctive style at that time, often wearing a tight crop top with the upper part of her bra showing. In Ice’s video, she dressed exactly the same way. One person commented, “Yep, it’s giving Itty Bitty Piggy Nicki vibes, especially with the bra.” Another added, “Definitely Itty Bitty Piggy Nicki vibes, just without the sparse bangs.”
The situation got so bad that even Azealia Banks stepped in, telling Ice to stop trying so hard to be like Nicki. Azealia didn’t hold back, saying, “Somebody needs to tell Ice Spice that absolutely nothing about this, aesthetically, performance-wise, production-wise, is Y2K at all. This is very early Nicki Minaj. Pack weave, we need a new hair color and a new facial expression. Ice, I love you, but you should hit the halt button, drop David L Chapelle, and redo this.”
Big butts and BBL bodies are the antithesis of Y2K. But, as mentioned before, none of the backlash was enough to deter Ice from copying Nicki Minaj. She just popped out with another look that was clearly inspired by Nicki. This time, Nicki wasted no time in putting her in her place. Ice posted a video of herself rocking a blonde hairstyle that many felt was very similar to Nicki’s wigs from her early days in the industry.
However, when Ice Spice was called out, her hairstylist blatantly lied, claiming that the inspiration for Ice’s hairstyle came from the late Princess Diana, not Nicki Minaj. “Not everything is about Nicki,” she said. “This was a Princess Diana recreation, AKA what she and the general public have been calling her since she started rapping.”
At this point, Nicki had enough and decided to issue a clear warning to cut out the nonsense before she responds and gives Ice the attention she’s craving. Nicki said, “Let’s get into this. Right now, I’m that b****. That’s number one. Number two, revisit number one before you ever think about playing with my bumper. Clear ya head top.”
Many people sided with Nicki and quickly showed their support. One person commented, “They bite off Nicki, use her, and act dumb. That’s why Nicki is guarded when it comes to these rap girls. We’d all feel the same if people did this to us in real life.”
Another person said, “Ice Spice is trying hard to get a Nicki response since she’s flopping. All these girls’ careers take off after using and gaslighting Nicki because they know y’all hate her and she will be the bad guy no matter what. Pathetic.”
But now, I want to know your thoughts. Do you think Ice Spice is stealing Nicki’s style? And is Nicki right for calling her out? Share your thoughts in the comments below