A bonus Saturday post for the paid list😎

I have always been skeptical of any purported closeness between Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé. “Feeling Myself” soundtracked an entire year for me; I got a Tidal subscription because the music video couldn’t get on YouTube fast enough. Their playfulness was dreamy onscreen, they could modulate to the same mood: Giggly, lethal, sensual, sharp! It’s still one of Nicki’s best-ever verses. But one of these women is strategic and exacting, stepping out every plan, doing everything with intention. The other is Nicki Minaj: talented but abrasive, emotional and hot-blooded, whose pen is as precise as how quickly she will cut down presumed detractors.

On Sunday Apple announced that Kendrick Lamar will headline the next Super Bowl halftime show. Lamar briefly performed during the 2022 super-show headlined by Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem, but when he performs next year he’ll be the first rapper to solo headline. Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation has selected the halftime performers since a partnership began in 2019, called Lamar a “truly a once-in-a-generation artist and performer.”

kendricklamar

A post shared by @kendricklamar

But the football game’s New Orleans setting was to many a natural venue for Nola native Lil Wayne. Among those critics is Nicki Minaj, who got her start alongside Drake on Wayne’s YMCMB. She blasted the selection from her Twitter: “One nigga took a knee The other nigga took the bag. He gon get you “niggers” in line every fkng time,” she posted on Monday afternoon. “Got everything in the world. Still spiteful & evil. Disgusting. Be happy Abeg. Go be fkng happy n!gg@!!!!!!!! In rap business. In women business. When you got the Politicians & the police you good tho. Plus dat ugly laughy taffy alien,” she said in a follow-up, hashtagging #GagCityDC, where she was set to perform that night.

Obviously she is talking about...