Divas Battle Royal: 10 Most Memorable Female Musician Beefs

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Divas, divas, divas…we love them for their grace, their beauty and most importantly their musical talent. However, sometimes they can’t seem to see in each other all the glowing qualities that we idolize from the outside looking in. OK, more like a lot of times they seem to not look at their fellow queens as royalty, even going as far as starting real-life feuds that can last over many decades and battles on the Billboard Hot 100.

We’re sadly in the midst of yet another brewing “diva battle royal,” this time between two R&B icons that we’d much rather not see budding heads: ethereal neo-soul goddess Erykah Badu and single-name-queen-of-everything Beyoncé, currently on her globally epic RENAISSANCE World Tour.

See below to peep what sparked the now-viral Bey vs. ‘Baduizm’ beef:

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For the sake of countless hits between them, ranging from “Tyrone” to “THIQUE”  — “Bag Lady” to “Single Ladies” — we’re making the wise decision of not choosing a dog in this catfight. However, it did remind us that diva wars are a tale as old as time when it comes to the music biz. From behind-the-scenes battles to wars on wax that got lyrically scathing, some female artists are simply not about making beautiful music together, or anything else for that matter. Be it pop or R&B, new age hip-hop queens or classic soul pioneers, we came across a few unforgettable moments in music history that prove our point perfectly.

As we pray for peace between Erykah Badu and Beyoncé in the very near future, take a look at 10 musical diva wars we won’t soon forget — some squashed, others still ongoing and a few that were probably so blown out of proportion that problems never existed to begin with:

1. Aretha Franklin vs. Dionne Warwick

Making matters even worse, it all started at the funeral of Whitney Houston!

2. Patti LaBelle (and The Bluebelles) vs. Diana Ross (and The Supremes)

From eating eyelashes to stolen looks, we’re just glad Auntie Patti has been so chatty about her friendly feud with the ‘Supreme Queen.’

3. Roxanne Shanté vs. The Real Roxanne

Although this could be seen as the rap beef that turned it all into a marketing tool, at least The Roxannes made it entertaining — all 100 responses!

4. Janet Jackson vs. Madonna

Being that they both inspired every living female pop singer on the planet, we hope these two reigning pop queens have buried this hatchet since the ’90s.

5. Lil Kim vs. Foxy Brown

While we still haven’t lost hope in one day hearing their once-planned joint album, Thelma & Louise, let’s just say nobody is holding their breath in seeing these lifelong rap enemies ever uniting.

6. Azealia Banks vs. Iggy Azalea

There was a lot to unpack in this beef, as Azealia made great point in regards to the lyrics in Iggy’s 2012 freestyle, “D.R.U.G.S.” (‘When the relay starts I’m a runaway slave / Master, shitting on the past gotta spit it like a pastor’), but made it very hard to side with her due to her own unapologetic bigotry. 

7. Mariah Carey vs. Jennifer Lopez

Let’s just hope that one day these ladies truly get a chance to “know” each other. 

8. Rihanna vs. Ciara

As petty as this was from every angle possible, it made for one very entertaining night on Twitter — IYKYK!

9. Nicki Minaj vs. Cardi B

Hey, maybe one day they’ll pull a Jay-Z and Nas on us and come together for the collab of the decade.

Yeah, one day…

10. Brandy vs. Monica

From the believable beef on their iconic duet “The Boy Is Mine” to their respective career-long missions to be looked at as Whitney’s favorite, this was one battle that might’ve looked bad at times but always sounded amazing!