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Jenna Fain

Professor Gonzalez

ENC 1102

16 April 2024

Megan v. Nicki: The Influence of Beef in Music on Fans

Introduction

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
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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

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.

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

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.

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.

Methods

The articles were strategically filtered and chosen based on how in depth they are in their

arguments and how it relates to the argument that Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallions beef

had a great effect on the intrapersonal lives of listeners of all ages due to idolization and relation

through the use of lyrics and other means of communication. Articles that have to do with the

influence of celebrities due to media consumption were chosen purposefully to back up this

argument. Articles that are more focused on diss tracks and lyric analysis and affect were also

chosen to back up this argument from another approach. Each article included is different and

specifically chosen based on the relevant studies done.

The diss tracks by each Nicki and Megan are included, “HISS” by Megan Thee Stallion

and “BigFoot” by Nicki Minaj, as well as a song they previously made together. Also, social

media was used with twitter being the primary platform as well as YouTube. Chosen were tweets

reacting to the situation from Nicki and Megan fans as well as a constant with a tweet from
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neither. Lastly included, are statistics about listeners and performance chart data from each of

their diss tracks, “HISS” and “BigFoot”.

Results

Based upon research found in the articles

Discussion

Conclusion

Works Cited