Nicki Minaj says she was the first to name her fans in hip-hop: “The Barbz are still superior”

Lis Sinatra

Nicki Minaj has claimed she and her fans ‘the Barbz’ pioneered stan culture in hip-hop, saying that “there were no rappers naming their fans” before her.

The Queens rapper attended Vogue‘s Forces of Fashion event in her hometown of New York City earlier this month, where she was asked about the power and influence of her infamous fandom – the Barbz – on pop culture.

“Before I had a record deal, my fans were making a moment for themselves on Twitter. I had already given them a name,” she told the audience. “When I started calling my fans the Barbz, there were no rappers naming their fans. There were only two people at that time, and I don’t know which came first — Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, they had Beliebers and Monsters. That was it.”

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She added: “Now, every single human being that becomes an artist gives their fans a name. Even artists in other countries. Some of the African artists that I love, when I would look into them, they would have names for their fanbase and I was like, ‘Woah.’

“I didn’t think it was something that would spread to the hip-hop community at all. But it doesn’t matter because the Barbz are still superior.”

Back in February, Minaj reminisced on her fanbase’s loyalty, warning others to not challenge her as the Barbz are relentless and always retaliate.

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She wrote: “It don’t matter WHO start it, the Barbz ALWAYS finish it. I been doin’ this shit for a long time now & every time I ever tried to warn [people] that the Barbz are different, they had to learn the hard way.

“I’m not their fave, I’m their family. Know the difference & then play [at] your own risk,” she concluded.

The Barbz have gone after rappers who have publicly feuded Minaj. Back in August, fans took to X/Twitter to take aim at Latto for calling Lil Kim the GOAT female rapper in an interview. The group also accused Cardi B of copying Minaj in her ‘Enough (Miami)’ music video, saying the Bronx star was inspired by their beloved idol’s winter look from last winter.

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Sometimes Minaj would argue and correct with her own fans. Earlier this month, one of her fan pages falsely reported that she was planning to go on a hiatus – which the rapper shut down. She told her fans she “ain’t going no-mthfkn-where.”

Minaj also commented on her ‘Pink Friday 2 World Tour’ – which ended earlier this month – and the fact it is now the highest-grossing tour by a female rapper and the fourth highest-grossing rap tour of all time.

“I feel very grateful. I have a very close-knit relationship with my fans, and they went very hard for me,” she stated. “I wasn’t expecting to have the highest anything, to be honest — I didn’t even know that I was in the running.”

She continued: “But even if I didn’t have that, I would still be so grateful because the time that I’ve spent with the Barbz at these shows has been healing for me. They said it was healing for them and their inner child, but it was healing for something within me as well.”

Last month, Minaj announced she is working on the third instalment of her ‘Pink Friday’ album series. There is no release date for ‘Pink Friday 3’ as of yet. Originally, Minaj planned to release another deluxe edition of ‘Pink Friday 2’, which was meant to be released on September 13, but was later axed in favour of ‘Pink Friday 3’.

In other news, Nicki Minaj won Hip-Hop Album Of The Year at this year’s BET Hip-Hop Awards – beating Travis Scott‘s ‘Utopia‘, Drake‘s ‘For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition’, Megan Thee Stallion‘s ‘Megan’ and more. Check out all the other winners here.