While she once praised Cardi B and called herself a “fan” in an interview, Azealia Banks’ feud with Cardi dates back to about September 2017, when she called the rapper a “poor mans [sic] nicki” Minaj and suggested that Cardi hired a ghostwriter for “Bodak Yellow.” (Cardi, for her part, responded with an old clip that showed Azealia dancing to the No. 1 song.) The feud escalated in May 2018, after Azealia called Cardi “illiterate” and a “caricature of a Black woman.” She said on The Breakfast Club, “Two years ago, the conversation surrounding Black women’s culture was really reaching an all-time high.”
Referencing Beyoncé’s Lemonade, she continued, “There was just this really, really, really intelligent conversation going on nationally and then everything just kind of changed and then it was like Cardi B.” Cardi hit back on Instagram, calling Azealia a “hypocrite” for praising Beyoncé when she had previously criticized her, among other insults. Azealia responded a few days later, calling herself a “free-thinker,” and the entire debacle culminated in Cardi deleting her Instagram.
Cardi has since returned to IG, and things appear to be quiet on the feud front — for now.
