SZA and Nicki Minaj's Beef Has Gotten Really Personal — "Girl Bye!"

If you follow Onika Tanya Maraj, aka Nicki Minaj, on social media, you probably already know that she's a queen of online beefs. If it's not one rapper, it's another. In early July 2025, she famously beefed with Roc Nation founder Jay-Z.

But fresh off that beef, she launched another one with a different rapper. This time, rapper Solána Imani Rowe, known as "SZA," was squarely in her sights. But why is she now having beef with SZA? Here's what we know about the newest development in the "Nicki Minaj online beef" saga.

The newest beef seemed to come out of nowhere, as Nicki beefs often do. It started with Nicki taking a swing at another rapper, Punch. She wrote on her X (formerly Twitter) account, "So glad I have proof of being bullied by AND being lied on by a man PUBLICLY. On a platform I use for my JOB, after I rejected his business proposition on more than one occasion."

SZA seemed to weigh in with a cryptic message, writing on her X account, "Mercury retrograde ... don't take the bait lol silly goose."

Nicki didn't tag her, but she seemed to be clapping back, "Go draw your freckles back on bookie." Nicki seemed to gain momentum from there, turning her next X posts to SZA's appearance. She wrote, "B---h looking and sounding like she got stung by a f--king bee. Dot dot dot *Draws on my fake freckles.*"

After that, Nicki turned her roasts to SZA's records, writing, "Like what in the insecure lack of morals and integrity you doing? I thought she was like a real artist? Girl bye."

SZA seemed disinclined to respond to Nicki. But after a fan warned her that Nicki's fans, known as "The Barbz," would come after her, SZA finally addressed the barrage.

She wrote, "I get bullied by millions online every day, then step my a-- out onna packed stadium tour where ppl show me REAL love. IN REAL LIFE. My parents are healthy and I’m the most successful I ever been. GET SOME F--KING PERSPECTIVE n BARK AT THE WALL !!!"

Nicki later mocked SZA for "Singing in two languages at once," and wrote, "B---h finna pounce on her imaginary friend. But she did look sexy in this footage chi." She also proposed calling the rapper, "MZA" instead of "SZA," adding, "Let’s get MZA back to this look. This was the right wig for her as well. Now as far as the vocal coach boyyyyyyyy that’s gon cost the b---h her whole budget. But you ain’t heard dat from me chi."

Yet SZA seemed utterly uninterested in engaging in a back-and-forth, and only concluded by posting, "Lmao lemme go back to being calm shy and meek. Y'all have blessed night! See you tomorrow for night 2 Paris!!"

The next day, Nicki was turning her ire on someone new: Desiree Perez, CEO of Roc Nation. And the beef with SZA seems to be on hold, at least for now. It's unclear what sparked Nicki's string of personal attacks, but SZA's unwillingness to engage seems to have been a winning strategy.

Until the next time, anyway.