Returning to her usual controversial form on X (formerly Twitter), Ntsiki Mazwai, who is no stranger to online rants and controversy, has accused rapper Nicki Minaj of copying her 2018 album cover.
The author and musician shared a side-by-side picture of her album cover, “The Masterpiece”, and Minaj’s fourth studio album, “Queen”.
According to Mazwai, the cover for “The Masterpiece”, which she claims came out in April 2018, carried the same energy that Minaj used a few months later for “Queen”.
She said she remembers clearly how everything unfolded and still feels the industry tried to bury the moment. Mazwai claims her release dates were moved around to create the impression that she dropped her project after the “Super Bass” singer.
She told her followers on X that the original launch date lives on her YouTube page and that this is the only thing that stopped people from saying she was the one taking inspiration.
“I will never forget how she copied my album cover, and then the system changed my release dates to try to hide it and make it seem like I was inspired by her. Kanti, luckily, I had a launch that is on YouTube with the correct date,” she wrote.
On her cover, Mazwai is seated on the ground with her legs stretched out, featuring a dramatic background with flames, and dressed in her layered beadwork.
Minaj’s cover shows the rapper on a large tree branch with her one leg stretched out and an orange backdrop behind her. She is dressed in a detailed outfit with heavy accessories.
Mazwai insists that the similarities are not random and that people underestimate how often African artists are watched by bigger markets.
“Ufuna ukuthi (do you want to say) this was a coincidence? You really think Americans don’t check for South African creatives?” she asked an X user who disputed her claims.
Her comments sparked mixed reactions as netizens tried to make sense of the comparison. As expected, not everyone agreed with her, and most met her with sarcasm.
@AwandeMokoena wrote: “Sometimes we just need to read her tweets and move on with life 🤧.”
@HimTV added: “Trust me, babe, you’re not the person she would copy, no shade.”
And @Vitorious said: “The way these two covers are so different? Are we taking credit for poses now? They’re not even that similar.”
Despite the X community note that provided more context disputing her claims, Mazwai did not back down and still stood her ground and kept the conversation going.
The note read: “Nicki Minaj’s ‘Queen’ was released on August 10, 2018, and Ntsiki Mazwai’s ‘The Masterpiece’ on November 5, 2018. The timeline does not support claims of copying, and there is no verified evidence that release dates were altered or artwork was copied.”
