Nicki Minaj Goes After Megan Thee Stallion On Her New Single “Red Ruby Da Sleeze”
Nicki Minaj is back, and she’s feeling spicy. Today, Nicki has dropped her new track “Red Ruby Da Sleeze”; it’s her first proper solo single since “Super Freaky Girl,” which debuted at #1 last year. “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” — weird title — is built on a sample of the Diwali Riddim beat from Lumidee’s 2003 hit “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh),” and it’s got Nicki going off on some of her contemporaries.
Nicki Minaj often seems to work best when she’s feeling slighted, and that is absolutely the case here. In the past, Nicki has gotten into memorable feuds with peers like Lil Kim and Cardi B. More recently, she’s been mad at Latto, and a couple of the lines on “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” probably have Latto in mind. But Nicki’s main target this time around seems to be Megan Thee Stallion. Consider: “700 on them horses when we fixin’ to leave/ But I don’t fuck with horses since Christopher Reeve.” Also: “Dorito bitches mad that they not chose.” (Megan has a deal with Doritos, and also “not chose” sounds like “nachos.” You get it.)
I don’t know what Megan Thee Stallion did to piss off Nicki Minaj, or why Nicki can’t seem to tolerate the presence of other visible female rappers. But Nicki can really rap, and she can really, really rap when she’s mad about something. She goes off on this thing, moving in and out of patois, and the beat — from producers Go Grizzly, Cheeze Beatz, and Tate Kobang — is hard and pop at the same time. Listen to the track below.
“Red Ruby Da Sleeze” is out now on Republic.