Jay-Z appeared to take digs at Nicki Minaj during his performance at the 2026 Roots Picnic. He headlined the event on Saturday, May 30, at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Nicki Minaj has taken numerous digs at Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter, since last year. She has blamed him and his company, Roc Nation, for allegedly causing harm to her career. Carter has now appeared to hit back at the Barbie World singer.
He headlined the 2026 Roots Picnic on Saturday and dissed multiple rappers like Drake, Damon Dash, and Kanye West. He also took digs at Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty, rapping:
“That lady back on that stuff, she sounds like she in love with him. Her Ken can’t even pick up….take the kid….enough of them.”
According to PEOPLE, Minaj and Petty met in school before reconnecting years later in 2018. They then got married in 2019 and also had a son together a year later.
Petty is a level two registered sex offender after being convicted in 1994. He was also sentenced to seven years in prison in 2006 for manslaughter. In 2022, he was sentenced to house arrest and three years of probation for not registering as a sex offender in California.
Nicki Minaj, meanwhile, has slammed Carter over the last year. She also named him as one of the reasons for her support towards Donald Trump and the Republicans, saying:
“Jay-Z ended up costing Obama a lot, whether he knows it or not. Lots of rappers don’t like Jay-Z and were afraid to say it.”
She explained that she disapproved of Obama for this reason.
Nicki Minaj claimed Jay-Z owed her money last year
The Bang Bang singer made numerous social media posts last year against Jay-Z and Roc Nation. In July, she claimed that the company owes her money for Tidal. Carter bought that company in collaboration with Minaj, J. Cole, and Rihanna.
However, Jack Dorsey’s Square company bought it for $300 million in 2021. Minaj alleged that she is owed money for that partnership, writing on X (formerly Twitter):
“We’ve calculated about 100-200MM so far. #JayZ call me to settle this karmic debt. It’s only collecting more interest. You still in my TOP 5 tho. Let’s get it n***a. And anyone still calling him Hov will answer to God for the blasphemy.”
She wrote in another post:
“I’m going to use some of the money #JayZ owes me to send some of my Barbz to college, pay their school fees & student loans via my #StudentOfTheGame charity.”
In another post, she also claimed that Carter was allegedly jealous of her and had been “stopping the bags”, saying:
“Jay-Z has exhibited signs of envy, jealousy, hate, and stopping bags behind the scenes, allegedly. Why is it always the same story? So that means Nas made all of that stuff up, DMX made all of that stuff up.”
Nicki Minaj had also shared posts on X in 2024 regarding the money she was allegedly owed for the Tidal transaction.
Edited by Aditya Singh