Apparently, it has been a rough few days for Coi Leray. She did pick up a Best Female Hip Hop Artist nomination for the 2021 BET Awards, but that recognition was met with some criticism. Then a viral video featuring Leray led to more online judgment.
Even though Coi Leray’s “No More Parties” peaked in the Top 40 of Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart and was certified Platinum, she is still an up-and-comer. The general public’s unfamiliarity with the 24-year-old rapper became clear over the weekend.
Footage of Coi Leray performing in front of a seemingly unenthused crowd spread across the internet. Some social media commenters used the video to make fun of the EC2 mixtape creator.
“Feel like y’all tryna kill me,” tweeted Leray on May 30. “The love [used] to outweigh the hate but now the hate [outweighs] the love and it’s [slowly] destroying me.”
While Coi Leray was being ridiculed by some Twitter users, other recording artists showed their support to her by offering positive feedback. For example, Nicki Minaj posted a tweet in response to the negative reactions Leray was receiving.
“Don’t do that. Chin up. Always remember this, when black [people] not [f######] [with] you #TheyWillBoo. Those [people] were on their feet. That means they may not have known the song, but they were interested in getting to know more— so they were observing u. Charge it to the game & move on 🎀,” tweeted Minaj.
The Hip Hop veteran’s “black people” comment was met with backlash. Some people felt that part of Nicki Minaj’s tweet was purposely anti-Black and ultimately irrelevant to the conversation about Coi Leray’s performance. Particularly, because there seemed to be white attendees at the concert as well.
Nicki Minaj’s fans defended the Queens, New York native by focusing on her intent was to encourage Coi Leray. The Barbz also pointed out the tweet was contrary to the narrative that Minaj tends to feud with other female rappers like Lil Kim, Remy Ma, and Cardi B.
Despite the controversy, Coi Leray was appreciative of Nicki Minaj’s words. She tweeted, “Thank you so much for this. This means everything and more to me. Wow. I’m speechless. You just gave me so much more hope. Thank you again Crossed🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻💓💓💓💓💓.”
