Nicki Minaj Claims That JAY-Z Never Paid Her For Tidal Ownership Deal

Nicki Minaj has beef with other rappers. It’s what she does when she’s not making hits. The beef that she’s sparking up with JAY-Z has been particularly bitter, though. The rapper absolutely laid into Hov after it was announced that Kendrick Lamar, and not Lil Wayne, would be headlining the 2025 Halftime Show in New Orleans. Nicki Minaj questioned JAY-Z’s allegiance, and called him some pretty nasty names in the process. Apparently, she had more to say.

Nicki Minaj’s initial Twitter rant took place on September 9. A day later, though, the rapper decided to drop more anti-Hov rhetoric on a DJ Akademiks TikTok post. Ak was covering the fallout of the Halftime Show announcement, and the alleged tensions between JAY-Z and Drake. Minaj went into the comment section and proceeded to make some bold claims about JAY’s former streaming service, Tidal. Tidal did not pan out like the rapper intended, but in seemed like it was going to be the next big thing in 2015. A lot of fans likely remember the Tidal signing event, where a host of superstars took to the stage to confirm they were partial owners.

Nicki Minaj was one of these superstars. She signed a streaming deal with Tidal, and proceeded to stand onstage next to Rihanna, Madonna, and countless others. The only problem? She didn’t get paid. Minaj claimed that she never received payment from the platform, despite JAY-Z selling Tidal on the notion of making more for the artist. “I didn’t even get one red penny,” the rapper wrote. To add insult to injury, at least in her mind, Minaj was stiffed on signing to a platform that she spent lots of time promoting. She claimed to have promoted it as much as JAY’s own wife, Beyonce. “No one promoted it more than me outside of Beyonce,” she added. “Lol chi.”

Nicki Minaj’s claims directly contrasts previous reports about Tidal. JAY-Z sold the streaming platform for a whopping $300 million in 2021. The Shade Room reported that the stars who were listed as co-owners of the platform were given a payout of $8.9 million. This was intended to cover the 3% stake that each of them, Minaj included, had in the company. Minaj has never mentioned Tidal drama in the past, which is a bit suspicious, but we get the sense that she has a lot more to say about JAY-Z in the near future. Maybe she will provide evidence to support her financial claims.