Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for Power 105.1's Powerhouse 2015So...what's good today?
Not one to keep it inside when she's miffed, Nicki Minaj was busy sharing her feelings this morning. Or make that other people's feelings.
After a line was lifted from her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that could be construed as a comment about being single (as opposed to still being with Meek Mill), the rap star screen-grabbed almost a dozen tweets from fans who took extreme umbrage at the audacity of anyone who misunderstood Minaj.
"There's obviously a lack of intelligence if ppl really didn't understand what Nic said. She was very clear. People need to open their ears," @aeva tweeted. @nasli_minaj covered both angles when she added, "Guess them blogs didnt get what she was saying in the interview or they doing it for attention."
Probably a combination of both, but while Minaj was not being particularly vague while talking to Ellen (we get it, now she wishes she could go back and declare herself single instead of attached during the 12 years she dated Safaree Samuels), it's not as though she hasn't sent a few mixed messages before about her love life.
"#They don't want me to write this caption. Cc @djkhaled ~ It would be very remiss of you to not watch what I said about Valentines Day prior to writing or believing a headline about my comment. I'm not single. Thank you for coming out. Have a blessed day and get some D," Nicki teased DJ Khaled, referring to her Ellen anecdote about not posting a pic of her V-Day gifts from her sweetheart because they were too busy being in bed all day.
Of course she doesn't owe anyone anything when it comes to her current relationship status, so more power to her for maintaining a hint of privacy, but if you haven't been keeping up with the ebbs and flows on Instagram for the past year and a half, it would be quite easy to lose track of exactly where she and Meek Mill stand.
First of all, their flirty online presence dates back to 2009, back when Minaj had quietly been involved with Samuels for a decade and before she was fake-marrying Drake and getting fake-proposed to by DJ Khaled. In 2010 Meek tweeted his #goals: "2 GET NICKIMINAJ KNOCKED UP!!! LOL."
Oh, so many LOLs! He name-checked Nicki in both sweet and raunchy fashion in his song "Miss Me" that year too.
Their paths started to cross in the studio, but Minaj was with Samuels until they messily parted ways in 2014. Eventually she and Meek really did get together, but in December 2014 she insisted on Ryan Seacrest's morning show that she was single. Ultimately their romance was barely public at all until Minaj flashed a 15-carat diamond ring a year ago on Instagram, prompting immediate engagement speculation.
Which is fair game when big, beautiful diamonds are involved!
Then Meek told Fader in April 2015, in an interview published that May, that their relationship was "definitely real...but it ain't really time to get married yet."
Time went by, then in July 2015 the first round of breakup rumors started flying after some sub-Instagramming, Minaj doing some Beyoncé-quoting, "Thank God ya blew it!!! Thank God I dodged the bullet!!!!" and Meek captioning a low-looking picture of himself, "Even bosses got feelings ya kno?"
Meek and Minaj both fought valiantly in the great MTV Video Music Awards-related Twitter wars of summer 2015, and then they steamed up the screen in the music video for "All Eyes on You."
But they were the subject of split speculation yet again by August, when a cuddling sesh was needed to quell the storm. Then Minaj took speculation to a new level by calling Meek her "baby father" during a concert—but no, they weren't expecting.
Not that they would purposely add to the confusion or anything, Nicki showed up with a new gorgeous ring in December, tweeting, "Now this is what I'm talking about baby. Love u @meekmill."
Which, in hindsight, could be interpreted as both loving (as in, "thanks for the amazing ring, I love you") or snide (as in, "this is what I'm talking about when I talk about real jewelry"). They're obviously still in it to win it, but any tone is possible at this point. We can hear both coming from Ms. Minaj at any given moment!
She did clarify to Billboard, however, that Meek had told her he wanted to give her three rings before they got married—and she reiterated that on Ellen. "He said that that's my second ring and that if I get a third ring that that would be the engagement ring," she said, flashing diamond No. 2.
So the third time should be quite charming.
Meanwhile, this past February Minaj was in court to support her man when Meek (whose real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams) was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest and six years' probation for violating his probation stemming from his 2008 conviction on gun and drug charges. So close to home is where he's been lately.
But fast-forward to yesterday and apparently everything's going great!
Asked about the possibility of getting engaged, Minaj characteristically downplayed her current state of affairs.
"We're still figuring each other out," she told Ellen. "And in fact, I don't even want to say that I'm in a relationship anymore, because I think when people hear that, they go to like the mean place and try to like [what, pick it apart?]—not you, though. You're super. I love you to death."
People were presumably hanging on every one of Minaj's words and many settled on "single," but if she and Meek are still going strong, all the better. Better for them and for everyone who would dare to speculate otherwise.