Nicki Minaj respond to ex BF, Safaree's action of removing her tattoo

Nicki Minaj has a message for her ex ... if you didn't wanna be a superstar so damn bad, you'd still be sleeping in my bed.

Sources connected with the former couple tell The news team ... Nicki cut the relationship off -- after 14 years -- because he became uncontrollably jealous of her success ... success he wanted for himself.

We're told Nicki and Safaree had an arrangement -- she's the breadwinner and he's the backup singer/hype man/personal assistant.  But we're told Safaree was getting sick of being in the background and had become increasingly hostile ... an emotion she reciprocated.

We hear the final straw was when Safaree didn't show up recently to one of Nicki's shows, leaving her scrambling for a hype man.  She confronted him and he went crazy.

Breakup rumors spread this week when Safaree showed up in public with several of his Nicki tats covered up.