Behind Nicki and Cardi’s big beef

THEY grew up just 25 kilometres apart in New York — one in an apartment in The Bronx, the other in a house in Queens.

But together, New York City rap royalty Nicki Minaj and Cardi B are like oil and water.

The ugly rivalry between two of the top women of rap smouldered for more than a year before exploding last Friday when the hip-hop hellions had it out, WWE-style, at the Harper’s Bazaar Icons bash during New York Fashion Week, reports the New York Post.

First, a Minaj security guard threw an elbow at Cardi’s head in a lobby of New York’s Plaza hotel.

Then Cardi threw one of her towering red heels at Minaj.

At one point, new mum Cardi shouted at Minaj, “Let them talk about my daughter again!” before storming away from her in a huff, a fan video shows.

“B***h, come ’ere! B***h come ’ere!” Cardi — who gave birth to a girl, Kulture, with husband Offset of Migos in July — can be heard in another fan video.

Minaj reportedly “didn’t even flinch” as Cardi B was led out of the party.

Cardi was, of course, hobbling due to her lost shoe. But the look on her face was triumphant.

The pair’s clash dates back to May 2017, when Minaj name-dropped Offset — and his rap group Migos — in her collaboration with Katy Perry, called Swish Swish.

“Silly rap beefs just get me more checks,

“My life is a movie, I’m never off set,

“Me and my amigos (no, not Offset),

“Swish Swish, awww I got them upset!”

The jab by Minaj, 35, didn’t sit well with Cardi, 25, who took to Instagram Live at the time to dish on “fake” people in the industry.

“A b***h like me, I was happier when I was macking in the hood,” she wrote.

“This s**t right here is so fake. When I used to be a regular b***h from The Bronx — a ’hood b***h — when somebody used to be fake to me it was cool because I could approach a b***h and punch her.”

A few months later, Minaj seemingly took another dig at her foe in a verse for the song No Flag, which also features Offset and Migos.

“Lil’ b***h,

“I heard these labels tryna make another me,

“Everything you getting little hoe is ’cause of me”

Minaj quickly denied the lyrics were about Cardi.

Minaj and Cardi continued to jab at one another throughout last year, making headlines once again after featuring on the same song, Motorsport, in August 2017.

Minaj, a rap veteran, felt that the up-and-comer didn’t pay her proper respect.

“The only thing with Cardi that really, really hurt my feelings was the first interview she did after Motorsport came out,” Minaj told Beats 1 radio’s Zane Lowe last April.

“I remember when I first came in the game, if a female of that stature had done a feature with me on it, I would only be singing their praises and saying thank you.”

Cardi countered that she’d already paid enough respect to the rapper.

“I already said she’s an amazing artist, paid my respect to her,” she also told Lowe.

“What do people expect? Y’all want me to say something bad. I’m not falling for that.”

Their feud escalated when Minaj seemed to insult Cardi’s talent in an August interview with Jay-Z’s streaming service Tidal.

“It’s silly now to compare me to women, because there’s no women that can come in right now [and] realistically can put up the stats,” she said.

Hours later, Cardi responded on Instagram Live, saying she was “sick and tired of people trying to discredit me.”

During the opening ceremony, she refers to herself as The Empress — a cheeky nod to Minaj’s newly released album, The Queen.

Minaj seemed to rub more salt in Cardi’s wounds — with stinging lyrics on the album.

“They done went to witch doctors to bury the Barbie,

“But I double back, kill b****es, bury the body.”

Fans were convinced the artist says “Bardi” — Cardi’s nickname — instead of “body.”

The animosity continues despite their shared hardscrabble upbringings.

Minaj’s father worked as a financial executive, her mother in payroll, and were both staunchly religious gospel singers. But her father struggled with drugs and alcohol, fuelling a violent temper that led him to burn down their family home when Nicki was four years old.

“He was attempting to kill my mother. She got out before it burned all the way down,” she told Details magazine.

By 16, Cardi claims to have joined the notorious Bloods gang; by 19 she was a stripper.

She credits stripping with helping her escape poverty and a violent relationship.

“It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school,” she said.

Friday’s wild scuffle unfolded after Minaj supposedly mouthed off to Cardi about her skills as a parent, which sent the rapper into a rage, throwing punches, pulling hair and even throwing her cherry-red high heels.

But others say Cardi may have been looking to pick a fight when she “aggressively approached” the self-proclaimed queen of rap and said, “Let me tell you something,” as she lunged toward Minaj, TMZ reported.

When security personnel tried to break up the catfight, Cardi was elbowed in the forehead, leaving her with a sizeable bump on her forehead and a torn red dress.

“It was ripped totally down the back. Her ass was showing,” a witness told the New York Post of the scene. Coincidentally, a day earlier, Minaj’s dress had also torn, revealing her own backside.

Minaj was “completely unfazed” after the rumble at The Plaza and told police she does not wish to file charges against her foe, sources told the New York Post.

She continued to party after Cardi was led away.

“Nicki walked through the crowd in the ballroom with her team,” said a guest.

“She was with her bodyguards saying ‘Hi’ to people … then she went up to an area with couches and watched Christina Aguilera perform.”

Outside the event, Cardi told cops she also did not wish to press charges.

“No,” she said. “I just want to leave.”

But she wasn’t totally over the fight.

“I’ve let a lot of s**t slide! I let you sneak-diss me, I let you lie on me,” Cardi ranted in an Instagram post early on Sunday morning.

“But when you mention my child, you choose to like comments about me as a mother, make comments about my abilities to take care of my daughter is when all bets are f***ing off!!

“B****es talk s**t in they raps but in real life they p***y! This s**t really is for entertainment!” the rapper added.

This story was originally published in the New York Post and is reprinted with permission.