Feuds of the Grammy nominees explained

By Mariel Turner 8:21am PST, Jan 16, 2019

The 2019 Grammy nominees might be successful music stars, but that doesn't mean they can't get down and dirty sometimes! In celebration of the 61st Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 10, Wonderwall.com is breaking down the major feuds involving this year's Grammy nominees, starting with Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. In September 2018, the reigning rap queens attended the Harper's Bazaar ICONS party during New York Fashion Week and nearly got into a physical altercation after Cardi, who's nominated for five Grammys this year, threw one of her high heels at Nicki. She later took to Instagram to call Nicki out, accusing her of talking smack about her daughter, Kulture, and making other backhanded moves. Nicki addressed Cardi's claims on her Apple Music "Queen Radio" show, calling the NYFW brawl "so mortifying and so humiliating." After a few more incidents of social media back-and-forth, the pair agreed to a truce . Keep reading for more…

Taylor Swift vs. Donald Trump

Taylor Swift stepped outside of her public comfort zone in 2019, sparking the wrath of the president himself! The pop star, who's nominated for one Grammy this year, took to Instagram in October 2018 to publicly endorse candidates in her home state of Tennessee in the midterm elections: Democrats Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for the House of Representatives. The lengthy message also criticized Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn's voting history. Donald Trump soon caught wind of Taylor's comments and lashed out, telling reporters the following day, "Let's say that I like Taylor's music about 25 percent less now." He added, "Marsha Blackburn is doing a very good job in Tennessee. She's leading now substantially, which she should. … I'm sure Taylor Swift doesn't know anything about her." POTUS's comments had no effect on Taylor's popularity, however. Her post was credited with sparking a huge uptick in voter registrations.

Eminem vs. Machine Gun Kelly

Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly's feud dates all the way back to 2012 when MGK made comments about Em's then-16-year-old daughter, Hailie. Six years later, MGK called out the Detroit rapper on a track, dissing Em in the song "No Reason." Eminem, who is, perhaps, the king of diss tracks, fired back with his own song, "Not Alike," after virtually ignoring Kelly for years. The song resulted in a continued back and forth in song. Eminem is up for one Grammy this year.

Eminem vs. Samantha Ronson

Eminem's beef with Machine Gun Kelly trickled down into feuds with other artists, including DJ Samantha Ronson, Lindsay Lohan's former girlfriend. Sam didn't appreciate Em's lyrics in "Killshot," which she thought threw shade former Eminem collaborator Rihanna in addition to MGK. In September 2018, the DJ tweeted, "Why can't Eminem make a diss record that isn't misogynistic or homophobic? He's one of the best out there, it's lazy."

Nicki Minaj vs. Travis Scott

Cardi B isn't the only Grammy nominee with whom Nicki Minaj has been feuding. She also started an extra-petty fight with Travis Scott, who's nominated for three awards this year. The Houston rapper dropped his latest album, "Astroworld," in August 2018. Nicki dropped her newest project, "Queen," a week later. But Travis's album was already a huge hit and took the No. 1 spot. Nicki got upset and called out Travis and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, for unfairly promoting his album, saying, "I put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & [their daughter] Stormi [on tour]. lol. Im actually laughing. #Queen broke the record of being number 1 in 86 countries. Thank Jesus & thank you to my fans." Although Travis never addressed Nicki's rant publicly, he did request that his and Kylie's seats be moved at the MTV Video Music Awards after finding out Nicki was seated directly behind them.

Kanye West vs. Drake

Kanye West, who's nominated for one Grammy this year, was once friendly with Drake, but those days are long over. In May 2018, Pusha T released a Drake diss track on his album "Daytona," which was produced by Kanye. Drake then called out Ye in an interview on "The Shop," claiming that Kanye told Pusha about Drake's secret son. Kanye denied the claims ("I'm Ye. I got major things to do other than be telling him some information about Drake.") but the feud was officially on. (Pusha, by the way, claimed it was actually Drake's producer Noah "40" Shebib who spilled the beans about baby Adonis.) A few months later, Kanye hopped onto Twitter and lashed out at a Drake in an emotional rant. "There would never be a Drake without a Kanye West so never come out your mouth with a threat," he wrote in December. Kanye added, "Been trying to meet with you for 6 months bro You sneak dissing on Trav[is Scott] records and texting Kris [Jenner] talking bout how's the family." He also criticized Drake for being "disrespectful to all people with mental health conditions," which lead to another feud of its own…

Kanye West vs. Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande was caught up in her own Kanye West battle when she tweeted about "grown men arguing" in the midst of Kanye and Drake's beef in December 2018. The pop star asked the rappers to "behave" and let "the girls shine" since she and Miley Cyrus were dropping new songs. Kanye didn't take too kindly to Ariana's words, blasting her for trivializing mental health. "All of this foolishness weighed on my mental health so @ArianaGrande you know I got love for you but until you're ready to really make sure everyone's ok don't use me or this moment to promote a song." Ariana snapped back, saying she didn't need "anyone to promote anything." Oddly enough, Pete Davidson — Ariana's ex-fiancé who has borderline personality disorder and previously publicly feuded with Kanye — spoke out in support of the rapper, saying, "Bravo Kanye West for standing up for yourself and speaking out [in support of] mental health…We need people like Kanye. No one should ever point fingers at you for your bravery in speaking about mental health. I'm seriously disgusted." Ariana is up for two Grammys this year.

Lady Gaga vs. Madonna

Lady Gaga and Madonna's ongoing feud got fired up again in December 2018. The twosome have engaged in a war of words since Gaga dropped "Born This Way" in 2011, a song that drew comparisons to Madonna's "Express Yourself" (Madonna shadily called it "reductive"). In 2015, Madonna said Gaga "blatantly ripped off one of my songs" while Gaga sneak-dissed Madonna, emphasizing how she writes all her own music. Three years later, Madonna seemingly took another swipe at Gaga when she posted a vintage clip of herself on Instagram in which she told an interviewer, "If there are 100 people in a room and 99 say they liked it, I only remember the one person who didn't." Critics believed it was meant to be a dig at a statement Gaga repeatedly made while promoting "A Star is Born": "There can be 100 people in a room and 99 don't believe in you. And you just need one to believe in you." Gaga is nominated for five Grammys this year.

Travis Scott vs. Tommy Lee

Grammy nominee Travis Scott was entangled in a feud with former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee back in November 2018. The rock musician accused the rapper of stealing his set design after Travis began riding a 360-degree loop roller coaster onstage during his Astroworld tour set. "Just found out this f**king idiot @travisscott or someone on his team ripped off the 360 AND The Cruecifly! WTF!! Get an original idea bro …," Tommy tweeted. Travis responded through his legal team, issuing the statement: "Tommy didn't invent the concept of a roller coaster on stage and there's no legal basis for his accusatory outburst." Tommy made sure to have the last word, however, tweeting: "After I and our production crew created the 360 and Crüecify, We hired a company called SGPS in Las Vegas to create it. WELLLLL GUESS WHO'S DOING TRAVIS'S SET DESIGN???? F**king SGPS!"

Bebe Rexha vs. the ladies of "RuPaul's Drag Race"

Bebe Rexha found herself in a feud last summer when she slammed the stars of "RuPaul's Drag Race" after they introduced her at VH1's Trailblazer Honors. The singer hopped on Twitter to share her frustrations, writing, "I met some of the contestants from ru Pauls drag race and I wasn't in Hair and Makeup so they didn't know it was me and they were COLD af." She added that they "didn't talk to anyone like they were the sh–. And they seemed exhausted, but try my schedule and let's talk ladies." "Drag Race" star Aquaria clapped back at Bebe, writing, "We're really just artists who were being swept through a crazy week. I don't think any of us would intend to be rude or shady to any other performer." Bebe is nominated for two Grammys.