Not everyone is ready to declare Kendrick Lamar the new king of hip-hop. During a conversation with Elliott Wilson as part of his CRWN interview series held in New York City last night, Nicki Minaj insinuated that Lamar has been ripping off her style and wondered why he’s been receiving such universal acclaim for it. (via KanyeToThe).

Explained one fan in attendance, “She said when she did crazy voices y’all niggas didnt respect it but now she hears Kendrick Lamar doing voices & y’all call him the king.”



Update: Uproxx points to a partial transcript of Minaj’s comments.

“You said that you didn’t get the voices before, but liked them on here: why? Because you listened. Because you listened. Because people you respected were on the track, and that’s fine, I understand that…I got a call from Mister Cee after he heard ‘Bottoms Up,’ and he said he had to give me my props. ‘Bottoms Up’ was very animated, but he took the time to listen, you know what I’m saying? It takes skill. And then I see people doing it now. Sometimes, when I hear the animated things that Kendrick Lamar does…I respect and like him, but when I paid attention to certain things he does, I think to myself: ‘I did that.’”

She said when she did crazy voices y'all niggas didnt respect it but now she hears Kendrick Lamar doing voices & y'all call him the king. ☕ — ERIC. ERIC. ERIC. (@Ericccxminaj) December 17, 2014

"When I hear certain animated things that Kendrick Lamar does…I'm like wow…talking bout King of New York…" @NICKIMINAJ *sips Myx* — STASHED® (@theSTASHED) December 17, 2014

That's the headline. "Nicki Minaj calls out Kendrick Lamar on jocking her flow" — ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (@AuraOfPinkslam) December 17, 2014

Nicki says was making crazy voices in her songs and no one respected it but we call Kendrick the KONY. Ever heard of Andre 3000? — RUN_TRG (@TRG19) December 17, 2014

Incidentally, Kendrick Lamar was also in New York City last night, debuting a brand new song on The Colbert Report. Revisit the performance below.