The Barbz are BIG mad after the Recording Academy made a huge blunder while announcing the Grammy winner of Best Rap Song.
During the Grammy pre-show on Feb. 4, Killer Mike was crowned the winner of the category for his track “Scientists and Engineers” featuring Future, Andre 3000, and Eryn Allen Kane.
However, on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Recording Academy mistakenly named Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj the winners causing confusion and allegations of “sabotage.”
Source: Theo Wargo/Lester Cohen / Getty Images for MTV, Getty Images for The Recording Academy
The post — which has since been deleted — deemed Nicki and Spice the champions for their hit single “Barbie World,” which was created for the Barbie Movie soundtrack.
Shortly after Killer Mike was announced as the actual winner, the major oversight was scrubbed from the Recording Academy’s X account, but fans of the famous femcees were quick to capture a screenshot of the huge error.
The Barbz, Nicki’s dedicated fanbase, were pissed off by the major oversight.
Netizens claimed that the mistake was made “on purpose” to spite the “Anaconda” rhymer, who has previously called out the Recording Academy for not awarding her a Grammy. Fans were certain that Nicki and Ice Spice were the real winners of the category and some questioned if the Grammys were “paid” to change the decision last minute.
Nicki earned two nominations during the 2024 Grammys for her work on Barbie World. The Queen rapper has snagged 12 nominations in total from the Recording Academy, but, oddly, she has never won an award. It is a little strange considering her impact on hip-hop over the last decade and the Barbz think Sunday’s “mixup” was a slight to make the rapper think she finally won, only to snatch it away.
In 2010, Minaj soared to fame after she released her debut album Pink Friday, just shy of her 28th birthday. The album spawned classics like “Moment 4 Life” and “Super Bass,” which reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified diamond by the RIAA.
Minaj’s 2012 follow-up album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, struck success with the album’s lead single “Starships,” which peaked across the top five in 15 countries. The album’s second single, “Anaconda,” debuted at number two on the Hot 100 chart. Thanks to the song’s bootylicious music video, Minaj became the first solo female rapper to reach one billion views on YouTube
Nicki Minaj Has Had A Bone To Pick With The Recording Academy Over Her Grammy Snubs
In 2022, the mother of one slammed the Recording Academy for moving her song “Super Freaky Girl” out of the Grammys Rap division to the Pop category.
“I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY,” Minaj penned on X in October 2022. “If SFG (‘Super Freaky Girl’) has 2B moved out RAP then so does Big Energy!” she added, referring to Latto’s hit song.
Minaj, 42, explained her position further in a lengthy Instagram Live video, according to Variety.
“If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention,” the rap veteran said in a since-deleted video.
“And by the way, this is not to say any song is bad or any female rapper is bad. I always say this: Any rapper, female or male, that wins a Grammy, you should be fucking proud of yourself. But why is the goalpost only ever moved when it’s Nicki? Well, I’ll tell you why. They don’t want the people that they have in the industry to go up against me.”
Source: MEGA/GC Images / Getty
The star claimed that the decision was made to weaken her chances of winning an award.
“Now what do you think is gonna happen when they start voting on these pop categories? And it’s a bunch of people, white or wherever they’re from, or older, and they have to decide between Nicki Minaj and Harry Styles, or Nicki Minaj and Adele?” Nicki added. “That’s purposely designed so Nicki is not in the (rap) category that we don’t want any competition in. Put her in there (in pop) so she has more competition and less of a chance to win.”
Ice Spice is still waiting on her trophy, too. At the 2024 Grammys, the “Think U The Sh*t” rapper was nominated for four Grammys, including one for Best New Artist. She lost in that category to Victoria Monét.
Yikes!
What do you think about this messy mistake? Were The Barbz right for calling out the Recording Academy?