Despite Lil' Kim’s recent statements to the contrary, Remy Ma’s new song “Wake Me Up” seems to contain some clear shots at her perennial rival Nicki Minaj. The track, which Remy dropped today, is produced by 808-Ray, SmittyBeats, and Cool & Dre, and is expected to appear on the Bronx rapper’s upcoming solo album Seven Winters, Six Summers.
On the song’s second verse, Remy alludes to a rapper who hasn’t properly honored their predecessors:
I’m rich, I'mma stay that bitch!
You fake-ass bitch, you owe homage, pay that shit!
Spray that fif', the crown, I'mma take that shit
‘Cause you a clown and Homey don’t play that shit!
A few bars later, Remy drops some bars that seem to play on Nicki’s name:
I heard he lay that dick, you let him filet that fish
You just met ‘im, how he bae that quick?
I’ll say it to your face, don’t gotta relay that shit
If Nick-ole a Kid-man, OJ that bitch!
Remy and Nicki exchanged disses earlier this year, with their rivalry coming to a head after subliminal shots on Nicki’s “Make Love” caused Remy to drop a pair of scathing diss tracks: “ShETHER” and “Another One.” Nicki responded with the Drake and Lil Wayne-assisted “No Frauds,” and both artists have continued to take pot-shots at each other on subsequent tracks.
Remy also calls back to a Lil Kim classic, as Genius' own Rob Markman breaks down in an annotation:
In an interview with Beats 1 Radio, Remy explained that she wanted to pay tribute to Kim’s hip-hop legacy:
I wanted to pay homage to Kim. I feel like she is like the Madonna of the hip-hop world to me. Her style is iconic, and I wanted to show homage and pay homage to that, so when I called her, I told her, I’m like, ‘Listen, I want you on this record, but I just want you to be Kim. I want you to be the girl that was squatting down in a leopard thong, be that Kim.’ And I told her, I’m a fan, and as a Lil' Kim fan, that’s the Kim that I wanna see. That’s the Kim that I wanna hear. If I heard a Remy Ma & Lil' Kim record, I want Remy Ma to be the Remy Ma that Big Pun met, and I want Lil' Kim to be the Lil' Kim that B.I.G. met.
Nicki and Kim trace their own beef back to the late ‘00s, when Kim accused Nicki of copying her style and not properly paying homage. Considering Remy is trying to honor Kim’s legacy, this may be what she’s referencing on the second verse.
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to Remy Ma’s “Wake Me Up” featuring Lil' Kim on Genius now.
