Nicki Minaj Offers Clarity On BET Speech: ‘I’ve Congratulated Iggy Publicly

This is a “No shade zone” sponsored by Nicki Minaj!

Although it’s been three days since the BET Awards, the Internet is still buzzing about Nicki Minaj’s speech and whether or not she threw a subliminal diss at rapper Iggy Azalea. While accepting the award for “Best Female Hip Hop Artist,”  Nicki mentioned, “When you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it,” followed by  “No, no, no, no shade,” which resulted in speculation that she was really throwing shade at fellow nominee Iggy.

According to Nicki, that’s not the case.

She took to Twitter to clear things up, saying she only wanted to encourage women to “write down [their] own thoughts and perspective[s].” She also mentioned being a fan of Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott, and reminded folks that she’s already “congratulated Iggy on the success of Fancy, publicly.”

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! 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. I fell in love with Lauryn Hill b/c I knew she was the author behind

those amazingly profound and articulated songs on the MisEducation. I wondered how Lauryn tapped into my brain and wrote an album on love, betrayal, passion, pain, triumph, brokenness…. Did she read minds? 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. I’ve congratulated Iggy on the success of Fancy, publicly. She should be very proud of that. All the women nominated should b proud. 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.

This bit would have been perfect as her acceptance speech and cleared up all speculation before it ever began.

I’m a fan of both Nicki Minaj and Iggy but I did feel as though Iggy and the rest of the nominees in the “Best Female Hip Hop Artist” category should have been given the respect of the presenter opening the envelope and reading the winner’s name. If you remember, Floyd Mayweather said he didn’t need to open the envelope because he had X-ray vision and knew that it would be Nicki that took home the trophy (although Iggy was the only rapper in the category that dominated the charts this year).

Interestingly enough, Iggy Azalea has never really addressed if she writes her own lyrics or not.  That’s still a mystery.

Via Twitter