Big Foot (Nicki Minaj song)

"Big Foot" is a diss track by rapper Nicki Minaj. It was released on January 29, 2024, through Young Money and Republic Records. The song is in response to Megan Thee Stallion's single "Hiss" released three days prior, which contained a lyric that Minaj had interpreted to be directed at her husband Kenneth Petty. The title is a mockery of the 2020 shooting in which Megan Thee Stallion was shot in the foot by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez.

Background and release

Although they collaborated on the 2019 single "Hot Girl Summer", Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion's relationship allegedly grew cold after Megan, on her 2020 single "WAP", collaborated with American rapper Cardi B, with whom Minaj has a rivalry. In the following years, Minaj reportedly continued to throw subliminal disses Megan's way. One of those included a line in Minaj's 2023 single "Red Ruby da Sleeze": "I don't fuck with horses since Christopher Reeves", referencing the "Stallion" in Megan's stage name.

On January 26, 2024, Megan released the single "Hiss", in which she rapped, "These hoes don't be mad at Megan/These hoes mad at Megan's Law", a reference to the law requiring registered sex offenders to provide their personal information to local law enforcement agencies. Nicki Minaj interpreted the line to be directed at her and her husband, registered sex offender Kenneth Petty. Following the release of "Hiss", Minaj took to Instagram Live to preview her own song, a diss track directed towards Megan, rapping "Bad bitch, she like 6 foot, I call her Bigfoot/The bitch fell off, I said 'Get up on your good foot'", referencing the 2020 shooting of Megan by Tory Lanez.

In the days following the song's release, Minaj continued to talk about Megan on Instagram Live and Twitter, making fun of her shooting by Lanez, mocking her rap flow, and accusing her of being a "pathological and manipulative liar" and a "flop". Minaj further addressed Megan with the words, "You bringing up 30-year-old tea from when this man was a 15-year-old child. You bringing up 30-year-old tea cause no man will ever fucking love you, and lying on your dead mother", referencing Megan's mother, who died of brain cancer in March 2019. On Twitter, she continued to tease the lyrics to her diss track, sharing the lyrics "Megan's Law. For a free beat you could hit #MeganRAW".

Minaj officially announced the track "Big Foot" on Twitter with a release date of January 28 at 6 PM Eastern Standard Time. In the announcement post, she included both a picture of the single cover and of Megan Thee Stallion. However, Minaj then claimed the song is not a diss track. She suggested that Megan tried to prevent the track from coming out despite the fact she hasn't "even heard the song". Minaj tweeted, "It's been [ready] for 2 days. Just was tryna be cool & let her get lil streams. Wasn't gon say anything. But remember how everyone kept my name in their mouth and how I said the next person mention my family gon regret it. Btw, they haven't even heard the song. Who said it's even a 'diss'?" Minaj announced that the song was delayed further for another six hours, before it was finally released on January 29 at midnight.

Composition

In the song, apart from previously teased in a tweet "Get up on your good foot" lyric, Minaj goes on to claim Megan lied about getting shot, alludes to Megan's late mother, and insults Megan's rap flow. The song ends with a minute-long spoken word section in which Minaj warns that she has "a lot of tea" and a "second installment" still to come. "Big Foot" has overwhelmingly been characterized as a diss track about Megan by critics.

Reception

"Big Foot" received an overwhelmingly negative reception from critics and fans, who criticized the production, the rap flow, and the shots at Megan for lacking in quality. Robin Murray of Clash deemed the song a miss and a bore, writing that it "revels in the obvious, doesn't reveal anything new, and rejoices in cheap shots". Writing for Rolling Stone, Larisha Paul described the song as a regurgitation of previous posts and criticized it for featuring "chaotic Dr. Seuss-meets-Disney Villain lyrics and rhyme schemes in place of the on-record charisma she was once known for." Peter Barry of Complex similarly found the song to be "lazily constructed" with rap verses that were "bland and tonally casual couplets" with "outdated punchline structures and generic talking points", and disapproved of Minaj stopping rapping midway through the song for a "muttered rant." HuffPost's Taiyler Mitchell declared the song a miss and decried Minaj for slut-shaming Megan on it, especially when both artists have proudly rapped about having sex.

American right-wing political commentator Ben Shapiro and Minaj lent praise to one another's songs as his collaboration with Canadian rapper Tom MacDonald, "Facts", competed with "Big Foot" on the U.S. iTunes sales chart. Minaj tweeted her congratulations to Shapiro upon his song reaching number one on the iTunes chart and called it "not bad", and later endorsed the song in a tweet stating "Wait til they 'wake up' & listen to what Ben Shapiro is saying in #Facts." Shapiro also praised Minaj and her song, calling her the "Queen of Rap" and stating it is "great to join you atop the iTunes rap charts". He also tweeted in support of Minaj in her feud with Megan Thee Stallion, stating that Minaj was correct for insulting Megan’s rap flow on "Big Foot". Minaj's endorsement of Shapiro was criticized by fans and critics; Grant St. Clair surmised that the duo's association was a "critically-panned kinship" due to the negative critical reception toward both "Big Foot" and "Facts".

Commercial performance

Upon release, "Big Foot" broke first-day records for the highest solo female rap debut in Apple Music history and the biggest solo female rap debut on YouTube in 2024. The song began with a debut of 4.1 million streams while "Hiss" increased to 3.8 million streams. However, by Wednesday, "Big Foot" trailed "Hiss" by most real-time metrics, placing in number two on Apple Music's daily US streaming charts and about twenty spots lower on Spotify's charts, while on the iTunes chart it placed at number four with multiple other versions throughout the top 25. While streams of "Hiss" remained high through the week, those of "Big Foot" fell off quickly, with the song only achieving 1.1 million streams in the last day of the tracking week. The track ultimately debuted at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also debuted at number 36 on the Billboard Global 200, while it failed to enter the Billboard Global Excl. US.

Track listing

• Streaming/digital download

1. "Big Foot" – 4:22
2. "Big Foot" (a cappella) – 4:22

• Digital download – rap version

1. "Big Foot" (rap version) – 2:30
2. "Big Foot" (rap version; a cappella) – 2:30

Charts

Release history

References