Scorpion down! Nicki Minaj seems to have included a split-second Drake diss in the middle of her new music video for “Hard White.”
Around the 1:33 mark of the video, which hit YouTube on Thursday, January 31, a brief animation shows a scorpion splitting apart. “Got these bitches shook, they shocked, no stun gun,” Minaj, 36, raps over the imagery.
Scorpion, of course, is the title of Drake’s fifth studio album, named after his zodiac sign. Released in June 2018, the double album earned the 32-year-old Grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. It was also the album in which Drake confirmed he secretly had a son, 15-month-old Adonis, with former adult film actress Sophie Brussaux.
Twitter users immediately took notice of the apparent diss. “Just killed another career, it’s a mild day. #hardwhite #endeddrake,” tweeted one Minaj fan. “THE SCORPIO THE SHADE TO DRAKE !!!!! #HARDWHITE #NICKIMINAJ,” raved another.
That said, the scorpion reference might be all in good fun. After Minaj mentioned Drake in her track “Barbie Dreams” in August 2018 — rapping, “Drake worth a hundred milli, always buying me s—t / But I don’t know if the p—sy wet or if he crying and s—t” — she told fans that she wasn’t dissing him or any of the other MCs she name-dropped.
“I said things about people who I know can take a joke and who I know can’t be emotional with it,” she explained on her Queen Radio show at the time. “It is what it is.”
Minaj also seemed to take aim at the Grammys in the “Hard White” music video after she was shut out of the 2019 nominations. “I’m the trophy of the game, everybody tryna win me,” she raps as a gramophone trophy flashes on screen. The Bronx-raised MC has been nominated for 10 Grammys in her career so far but has yet to clinch a win.
