In a fiery social media outburst, rap superstar Nicki Minaj has accused hip-hop mogul Jay-Z of owing her between $100 million and $200 million (approximately Sh12.9 billion to 25.8 billion) from the 2021 sale of TIDAL, the music streaming service he co-founded.
Minaj, one of 16 artists granted a 3% equity stake in TIDAL at its launch in 2015, alleges she was offered a mere $1 million for her share when the company was sold to Square (now Block, Inc.) for $302 million (approximately Ksh 38.9 billion).
In a post on X on July 8, 2025, Minaj wrote, “We’ve calculated about 100-200MM so far. #JayZ call me and settle this karmic debt. It’s only collecting more interest. You’re still in my top 5 tho.”
she further vowed to channel any recovered funds into her #StudentOfTheGame charity to cover college tuition and student loans for her fans, known as Barbz.
“I’m going to use some of the money #JayZ owes me to send some of my Barbz to college, pay their school fees & student loans,” she tweeted.
According to Hot New Hiphop , this isn’t the first time Nicki Minaj has criticized Jay‑Z publicly on social media this month.
Just last week, she shared posts from her fans who were calling out her past business dealings with his company, Tidal.
One fan stated, “#jayz owes Nicki Minaj money & a apology,” while another commented, “#JayZ should of paid Nicki Minaj her cut of the Tidal deal.”
Minaj acknowledged these posts by quote-tweeting them, accompanied by an emoji.
In addition to her pointed tweets, Minaj also appeared to subtly reference Jay‑Z in her verse on a remix of Lil Wayne’s track “Banned From NO.”
In it, she raps, “NFL, fire some n**s and then call us,” which seemed to allude to her frustration with the NFL’s decision reportedly influenced by Jay‑Z to have Kendrick Lamar headline the Super Bowl LIX halftime show instead of Lil Wayne, whom she has openly supported.
As of now, Jay‑Z has not issued any public response.