Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim put their beef to wax -- but who won?

“I’m turning Pink Friday to Friday the 13th,” raps Lil’ Kim on her Nicki Minaj diss track, “Black Friday.”

Four days after Minaj dropped her debut album, Pink Friday , Lil’ Kim, the 35-year-old “Queen Bee,” released her first new song in more than 20 months. The fact that it was a headline-grabbing attack is unsurprising.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., MC hasn’t released an album since 2005’s The Naked Truth. Once the center of attention in a male-dominated genre, Kim has been relegated to elder-legend status. And similar to an aging quarterback losing the starting job to a young rookie, she’s unhappy.

The beef began earlier this year when Kim claimed Minaj didn’t pay homage to her as she came up in the industry. (Minaj and others, including Diddy, refute this, saying Minaj has always cited Kim and other female MCs as influences.) Things quieted down, but as rap tiffs tend to go, the beef was reignited at the height of Pink Friday -hysteria.

Blame “Roman’s Revenge,” the Pink Friday track that was widely perceived as a Lil’ Kim slam (without saying her name). 

“Word? That bitch mad cuz I took the spot? / Well bitch if you ain’t s-----n’ then get off the pot / Got some n----s out in Brooklyn that’ll off your top,” raps Minaj.

Name-dropping Kim’s borough was enough for the former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant to grab the mic. Over Pharoahe Monch’s instrumental “Simon Says,” Kim sticks to typical diss-track talking points — credibility (“We all know your last name is what got you your job”), threats (“If I whistle, they’ll pistol whip you in all five boroughs”) and biting (“You a Lil’ Kim wannabe, you just hate to admit it”).

“Black Friday” is lukewarm, and will likely be remembered as a footnote during the week of Pink Friday’s release. Kim’s metaphors are tired (especially when she compares herself to Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy) and her delivery sounds cranky but rarely passionate.

Round One goes to Minaj, and not because “Roman’s Revenge” stings more (although it does). In rap, an attention-seeking diss track will only get you so far.

Lil’ Kim hasn’t had a hit in years, and Pink Friday will debut at No. 2 on Billboard this week (it sold more than 371,000 copies). Until Kim re-establishes her relevance on her own merit, “the spot” will remain in Minaj’s grasp.

Wesley Case writes about music for b. E-mail him at wesley@bthesite.com and follow him on Twitter: @wesleycase .

Posted by Wesley Case at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (175)

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