Nicki Minaj won the award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist for the fifth year in a row at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 29, and her acceptance speech did not disappoint.
After giving thanks for the opportunity to represent women in "a culture that is so male-driven," she threw some phenomenal shade at fellow nominee Iggy Azalea, who is rumored to use ghostwriters.
"What I want the world to know about Nicki Minaj is when you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it," she told the audience, adding that she meant no offense. "No, no, no shade, no, no, no shade."
Oh, but she threw shade, so much shade:
Later, the 31-year-old also recounted a story of how she recently thought she was dying, but didn't call an ambulance because she didn't want it to be on TMZ. She didn't elaborate on her near-death experience, but she did take one last shot at Azalea at the end of her speech. "And I hope and pray that BET continues to honor authenticity," she told the crowd.
UPDATE: On Wednesday, July 2, Nicki Minaj took to Twitter to address the reactions to speech she gave at the BET Awards on Sunday. In a series of tweets she wrote:
"The media puts words in my mouth all the time and this is no different. I will always take a stance on women writing b/c I believe in us! I believe we're smart enough to write down our own thoughts and perspective, just like the men do. I've been saying this for 5 YEARS. I fell in love with Lauryn Hill b/c I knew she was the author behind those amazingly profound and articulated songs on the MisEducation. I wondered how Lauryn tapped into my brain and wrote an album on love, betrayal, passion, pain, triumph, brokenness.... Did she read minds? It's the same reason I have a different level of respect for Missy. I know she's a writer and a producer. Women MUST aspire for more."
She added in another series of tweets:
"I've congratulated Iggy on the success of Fancy, publicly. She should be very proud of that. All the women nominated should b proud. That will never change my desire to motivate women to write. Our voices have to be heard. I hope I inspire up & coming females to do that."
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