Birdman on Nicki Minaj/Lil’ Kim Beef, “Nobody has to Salute or be Saluted”

The most talked about beef in hip-hop these days unexpectedly is coming from up-and-coming rapstress Nicki Minaj and Brooklyn vet Lil' Kim. XXLMag,com recently caught up with Minaj’s boss, Cash Money co-founder Bryan “Birdman” Williams, to find out what he thinks about the situation.

According to Baby, neither him nor his label ever wanted to get involved in beef, but in this case he has to roll with the punches. “Well, you know with Nick we’re just doin’ music, I don’t care to get caught up in that and I don’t care to make money off of that,” he said. “We never fucked with that. It is what it is. That’s not our thing, but it is what it is so we gotta let it be what it be.”

Speaking on Kim’s initial problem with Nicki failing to give her respect publicly for  paving the way for female rappers, Birdman said he disagrees. "Nicki is grown, Nicki does her own thing, I don’t think she has to— nobody has to salute or be saluted, we in this hustlin’,” he said. “The hustle gonna make you salute, just watchin’ a nigga grind and see how he shine. Nicki’s with her team, we ain’t doin’ nothing expect putting out good music. So if somebody’s fuckin’ with that, to me, they’re violating. Bullshit don’t weigh nothing, the grind and the money do.”

Nicki’s debut album, Pink Friday, is in stores now. —Elan Mancini with reporting by Rob Markman

For our full Q&A with Birdman click here.