Inside Nicki Minaj’s Feud With Jay-Z and the Rumored $200 Million Debt

Nicki Minaj spent the week lighting up X like it owes her money, taking swings at Jay-Z, sparring (again) with Cardi B, and even dragging a long-running paternity saga into the feed. It is a lot. Here is what she said, what she is claiming, and where things actually stand.

The Jay-Z part: wigs, beats, and old business

Minaj kicked off a fresh round of shots at Jay-Z with a jab about his hair and then got specific: she says he tried to block a beat she used with The Weeknd on her 2018 album 'Queen.' According to Nicki, she had already started the paperwork for the track when Jay told her it was supposed to be a Beyonce beat. She also claims another party sat back, let the situation play out, and later sued her over a similar beat. Who that is in her telling is not clear from her posts.

If you are wondering why this is bubbling up now: this fight goes back years to the Tidal era. In 2015, Jay-Z launched Tidal and brought on about 15 artists as partners, including Nicki, Rihanna, J. Cole, Madonna, and others. Minaj has said each artist partner was promised a small stake — she pegs hers at 3% — in exchange for exclusives. When Jay sold a major stake in Tidal in 2021 for nearly $300 million, she started publicly insisting the artist partners never saw a dime from that deal and that she is owed more than $9 million. In July, she posted that she and her team had 'calculated about 100-200MM so far' and told Jay to call her to settle. In the same breath, she still called him one of her Top 5 and joked that people who call him 'Hov' will have to answer to God. The duality is the point.

She has continued to take aim at Roc Nation leadership too, and earlier this year she blasted Jay after Lil Wayne didn’t land this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.

The 'secret son' thread she pulled on

Minaj also jumped into the long, messy story involving Rymir Satterthwaite, the man who says Jay-Z is his father. Satterthwaite filed a lawsuit in May 2025 claiming Jay refused to take a paternity test and tried to shut him up. Jay-Z has denied the allegations; his attorneys have said the claims have already been rejected in multiple courts and that ignoring those rulings led to a contempt order. Satterthwaite has since dropped the lawsuit.

"Dear Rymir, I’m sorry that camel framed you by putting things in your car, allegedly. I’m sorry he wanted u in prison the way he wants all his enemies. He’s WEAK. ugly too, but… I guess when you have money invested into the private prison system… welp… idk. This is all alleged"

That is Minaj’s wording, not evidence. Worth repeating: Jay-Z’s side has flatly denied the accusations tied to Satterthwaite.

Meanwhile, the Cardi B crossfire

On a separate front, Minaj and Cardi B have been back at it. Nicki claims Cardi’s label flew to California to beg for a joint tour and album, says she has a recorded call, and accuses Cardi of trying to sabotage her tour because she refused. She also mocked Cardi’s sales with the '4 dollar album' and '5 dollar coupon' line. Cardi fired back that Nicki needs to stop bringing up her album and, after 16 years in, measure herself against peers who came up around the same time — she name-checked Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Drake — not against Cardi’s numbers.

Nicki also said Cardi called the cops on her; Cardi publicly denied that. Then it got ugly. Nicki invoked Cardi’s daughter by name and used animal slurs; Cardi retaliated by bringing up Nicki’s son and tossing in drug accusations. Fans were not thrilled that the kids got dragged into it, and that part speaks for itself.

Bonus shot: the Nas angle

Because this week needed more plotlines, Nicki also tossed in an old-school hip-hop rivalry, claiming Jay-Z is jealous of Nas. She says she was sued for hundreds of thousands over a track she did with Nas that never came out — she called it 'CasiNO' — and punctuated it with a cryptic 'your number is called.'

Quick timeline, so you don’t need a corkboard

• 2015: Jay-Z launches Tidal with about 15 artist partners; Minaj says each got a small equity stake (she cites 3%).
• 2018: Minaj releases 'Queen' and says a Weeknd collab used a beat Jay claimed was intended for Beyonce.
• 2021: Jay-Z sells a major stake in Tidal for nearly $300M; Minaj later alleges the artist partners were not paid out.
• July 2025: Minaj says she is owed more than $9M, calls Jay a Top 5 favorite anyway, and says she would use the money to send Barbz to college via her 'StudentOfTheGame' charity.
• May 2025: Rymir Satterthwaite sues Jay-Z, alleging refusal to take a paternity test; Jay’s lawyers deny the claims; the case is later dropped.
• Sept 30–Oct 1, 2025: Minaj revives the Jay-Z feud on X, pulls in Satterthwaite, and reignites the Cardi B feud with accusations about a joint tour, sabotage, and more; Cardi claps back and denies calling police.

Where this leaves things

Minaj is painting a picture: Jay-Z allegedly tried to control a beat she wanted, still owes her from the Tidal sale, and is ducking a mess with Satterthwaite. Jay-Z’s side has denied the paternity-related accusations and hasn’t publicly engaged with her new posts about the money or the collaboration dustup. The Cardi back-and-forth is pure heat with zero sign of cooling, and the kid-related shots were a low point everyone clocked immediately.

Translation: this is probably not over, but keep in mind which parts are claims and which parts have been denied or dismissed in court. In other words, stay tuned and maybe mute a few keywords if your timeline needs a nap.