IN THE STREETS & ON THE WEB

Nicki Minaj Says Her Ass Is Not The Reason She's Successful

Nicki Minaj's derriere has nothing to do with her success as a female rapper, she angrily informed critics Friday.

After the 10-time Grammy nominee seized onto a sexist comment claiming she'd "had to buy an ass to blow up" in the industry, she issued a multi-tweet takedown demanding respect for her musical prowess.

"To imply someone's ass is the reason they get on tracks and hold their own with every great MC who is still alive," she fumed. "Not giving me my props doesn't stop me from being great. I am a mogul. Your hate is what made this possible."

The Trinidad-born songwriter also decried an industry double standard, arguing she's held her own in collaborations with today's most celebrated male rappers.

"If a male rapper was on tracks w/Wayne, Jay, Eminem, Kanye, etc going ROUND 4 ROUND he'd b hailed as a GREAT as well," she wrote. "I've gone toe to toe w/everyone of your favorite male MC's. To undermine my skill & diversity as an MC is actually comical @ this point."

The battle began when entertainment site Bossip asked its Twitter followers, "Really, does a female rapper have to be top notch to make it? I see a lot of so-so male rappers in the game," and began retweeting responses, some of which drew Minaj's ire.

The rapper scolded Bossip for its decision to spread such insults, which the site defended as an attempt to stoke dialogue.

"I saw Bossip retweeting ignorance so I figured I'd put that out there. Lol," she tweeted. "The greats give me my respect. The great journalists as well."

"Why would you assume that (retweets) mean we agree?" the site's Twitter account fired back, and went on to quote lyrics from Minaj's song "Monster" with Kanye West, including, "Wow, our lil' question had Nicki hotter than a Middle Eastern climate, violent…"