Nicki Minaj and Gucci Mane Squash the Beef with "Make Love"

In the history textbook of rap beefs, the September 2013 clash between Nicki Minaj and Gucci Mane is but a footnote, but it was significant enough that the two – both veritable heavyweights – had never worked together.

Three and a half years after that fateful Twitter exchange, things have changed: Gucci is in the best, most productive shape of his life after a transformative prison stay, and Nicki, having ended her relationship with Meek Mill, is now focussed on remaining at the very top of her game as she prepares to release what will be – if the flows she has been experimenting with on recent features are any indication – the album to beat in 2017.

Thus, it's the perfect time for the Nicki X Gucci collab we've been waiting for. Last night, Gucci promised via that he'd be releasing "the hardest song of the year," from his upcoming album Droptop Wop, imminently:

And, he was right. The official Hardest Song of the Year is a Nicki Minaj-featuring rager called "Make Love" (potentially a reference to the reconciliation between the two?), which sees Gucci on his clean living shit ("I just left out the gym / I'm boutta take a swim and meditate") and Nicki on her "murdering everyone who has either ever listened to or attempted to make music in the genre of rap" shit, reminding us that few do wordplay better: "I rep Queens where they listen to a bunch of Nas
I'm a "yes" and these bitches is a bunch of "nahs"
Tryna win a gunfight with a bunch of knives
I win, get off the bench and give a bunch of fives." Ostensibly this is a Gucci Mane song, but it's pretty clear that it's also a "Lookin' Ass" style pre-Nicki album reminder to never underestimate the things that Nicki Minaj can do to a track. Watch out.

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(Image via Nicki Minaj on Instagram)