Nicki Minaj's acceptance speech at BET Awards caused a stir, with many guessing that she was taking shots at Iggy Azalea, but Minaj says that's not the case.
At Sunday night's BET Awards, Nicki Minaj took home the "Best Female Rap Artist" award for the fifth consecutive year, beating out Iggy Azalea, among others, in the category.
She gave an impassioned acceptance speech that included the line "when you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it," which many took as a shot towards Iggy, whose lyrics have been rumored to be those of a ghost writer (perhaps even T.I.).
But now, Nicki has taken to Twitter to explain the real meaning of her speech, which has more to do with women's place in hip-hop than any specific beef.
Check out her full explanation below.
The media puts words in my mouth all the time and this is no different. I will always take a stance on women writing b/c I believe in us!— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 2, 2014
I believe we're smart enough to write down our own thoughts and perspective, just like the men do. I've been saying this for 5 YEARS— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 2, 2014
I fell in love with Lauryn Hillb/c I knew she was the author behind those amazingly profound and articulated songs on the MisEducation— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 2, 2014
I wondered how Lauryn tapped into my brain and wrote an album on love, betrayal, passion, pain, triumph, brokenness.... Did she read minds?— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 2, 2014
It's the same reason I have a different level of respect for Missy. I know she's a writer and a producer. Women MUST aspire for more.— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 2, 2014
I've congratulated Iggy on the success of Fancy, publicly. She should be very proud of that. All the women nominated should b proud.— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 2, 2014
That will never change my desire to motivate women to write. Our voices have to be heard. I hope I inspire up & coming females to do that.— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 2, 2014
[Update: Iggy Azalea Responds]
Iggy Azalea just took to Instagram to share her thoughts on the BET Awards controversy, sharing the image below with a caption:
"This is my mind state about everything & the only time I'm ever going to refer to this again so go nuts guys, Enjoy it. Ps. If you squint exxxtra hard you can see tiny elves having illuminati meetings between the lines in my notes app too."
