Fain 1

Jenna Fain

Professor Gonzalez

ENC 1102

15 March 2024

Megan V. Nicki: The Influence of Beef in Music on Fans: Literature Review

Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, former friends, have butted their heads more

recently through the use of diss tracks. Due to their large fan bases, word was bound to get out.

Nicki Minaj is one of the most famous black music artists in the world, let alone female and

rapper. Both of these artists have a huge influence on their fans. A diss track is when one artist

creates a song with lyrics that either implicitly or explicitly target a person in a negative light.

Diss tracks usually gain more attraction as humans love to hear about drama and see it unfold.

Their diss tracks, with the attention they bring to these issues, increase this influence greatly.

Fans of all ages’ intrapersonal lives are influenced deeply due to idolization and relation through

the use of lyrics and other means of communication.

There are many similarities between all of my supporting sources for my argument. The

first connection between these sources is the mention of music. My sources that mention this

include (Garringer 1-7), (Tyree and Williams 64-86), and (Racine 237-268). They all discuss

music and lyrical analysis through referencing artists and their songs as well as repeating themes

in these songs. This differs from (Cheng 67-87), (McCutcheon 23-44), and (Chia and Poo 23-

44), who do not discuss music at all besides a brief mention of the fact that music will not be a

specific factor in their studies. In Garringer’s article, he discusses how music connects listeners

and artists. In this, he brings in different artists as examples and connected their stories and
 Fain 2

feelings in songs to listeners personal stories and songs. In Tyree and Williams article, they talk

about diss tracks and black artists in the rap industry, more specifically black women artists,

where they do give specific diss track examples, and what their lyrics may mean in these diss

tracks. In Racines article, an analysis of diss tracks and their genres as well as their lyrics is

done. These are all beneficial to my argument as they all are on the same topic of music but

come from different angles about different aspects of it.

Another similarity in my sources is that McCutcheon, Cheng, Chia, and Garringer all

mention how these celebrities will influence their fans whether it be through music or in general

they all mention this. The other authors do not talk about this in their articles. In Garringer’s

article, once again he mentions how music connects/influences fans in general. Chia’s article,

there is an analysis on how celebrity idolization affects adolescents and their view on the world

and how it affects their own mental health. This connects greatly to my argument that fans

consuming this media will be greatly affected in their intrapersonal lives. Cheng’s argument is

about when celebrities are and are not accountable for their fan’s behavior based on fans overall

opinion on them. They go into detail about how fans idolization and support of an artist can

affect others including through boycott. In McCutcheon’s article, there is more of an approach on

celebrity worship as a whole and the different levels/the affect this has on fans and the celebrity.

Each of these takes a different angle of the same issue similarly to the music topic. The other

articles that are not included in this similarity do not mention this.

Lastly, a similarity of these articles is the mention of mental factors. In the articles by

Chia, Garringer, and McCutcheon, there is some type of mention. In Chia’s argument, there is

more of a focus on adolescents’ mental health and their life satisfaction based on their idolization

of these celebrities or influencers. In Garringer’s argument, there is a focus on relation to song

 Fain 3

lyrics and how that affects listeners as they relate to the mental health problems of the artists.

Lastly, in McCutcheon’s argument, there is more of a focus on fans mental state with delusion

and having false relationships with these celebrities being the general topics.

All of these sources tie together in support of my argument that Nicki Minaj and Megan

Thee Stallions beef through diss tracks is influential on listeners and their mental health and

perception of the world. Using these sources, their similarities help them to tie together as a

relevant support device to help structure my research. The diversity in these as well helps to add

variety to address the different points including mental health, diss tracks in general, and the

artists influence on fans of different ages. Overall, the supporting sources work together greatly

to support the argument of my research on Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallions influential

beef.
 Fain 4

Works Cited

Cheng, Li-Keng. “Are Celebrities Accountable for the Misconduct of Their Fans?” Wiley Online

Library, 2021, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.21604

Chia, S. C., & Poo, Y. L. (2009). Media, Celebrities, and Fans: An Examination of Adolescents’

Media Usage and Involvement with Entertainment Celebrities. Journalism & Mass

Communication Quarterly, 86(1), 23-44. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900908600103

Garringer, J. (2018, April 6). How does music connect the artist and fans? -

scholarworks.bgsu.edu. Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies.

https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1187&context=rbc

Racine, John P. “The Death of Dissent and the Decline of Dissin’: A Diachronic Study of Race,

Gender, and Genre in Mainstream American Rap.” SpringerLink, Springer International

Publishing, 1 Jan. 1970, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-59244-2_10

McCutcheon, Lynn. “Conceptualization and Measurement of Celebrity Worship.” The British

Psychological Society, 24 Dec. 2010,

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/000712602162454/full

Tyree, Tia and Melvin Williams. "Black Women Rap Battles: A Textual Analysis of U.S. Rap

Diss Songs." Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, vol. 25, 2021, p. 64-

86. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/wam.2021.0005