After tiptoeing around the subject for a while, Nicki Minaj is finally addressing her falling out with Lil’ Kim. The Harajuku Barbie didn’t hold back when speaking to Hot 97’s Angie Martinez about the Queen Bee.

Kim has been vocal about her dislike for Nicki, previously making comments such as,

“I will erase this bitch’s social security number. First of all, I don’t even need a record right now and I’d kill that bitch with my old shit.”

It was widely thought that the Young Money femcee, whose debut album Pink Friday arrives Monday, was taking shots at her hip-hop peer on the Eminem-assisted “Roman’s Revenge,” rapping,

“Nicki, she’s just mad ’cause you took the spot/ Word, that bitch mad ’cause I took the spot?/ Well, bitch, if you ain’t shittin’, then get off the pot.”

Now Nicki explains why she decided to launch a lyrical attack on her fellow rap diva.

“She just really jumped out the window and you got to be careful when you pick fights,” she tells Angie. “I think people get me mistaken with a real Barbie. They forget where I’m from and if I have to revert back, I can and I will.

“It’s one of those moments where you say, ‘Don’t play with me,’ because I respect you, I love you, I’ve said it in every interview time and time again, and if that’s not good enough with you mama, then it’s something deep rooted in you. Something is bothering you inside. That’s your insecurity bothering you. [If] it’s not Nicki Minaj, it would have been any girl that started poppin’. She picked a fight with Foxy [Brown], then she picked a fight with Eve, then she picked a fight with Remy [Ma], then it was Ms. [Voletta] Wallace, then it was Nicki Minaj. Everytime you in the news is ’cause you gettin’ at somebody. Where’s your music? Put your music out. When I see your name on Billboard, that’s when I’ll respond to you. Other than that, goodbye.”

Despite their differences, Nicki still has love for her predecessor.

“You know when a mom gotta beat you and she be like, ‘It hurts me more to beat you than it hurts you?’ It doesn’t take away the love that I have.”

She describes the time she confronted Kim about the beef.

“It hurt my feelings because I remember when I saw her on the tour with Wayne and I ran into Foxy and Foxy said, ‘Why you keep giving props to Kim? She don’t like you.’ She was like, ‘The girl be dissing you in conversation.’ And I’m so much of a diehard and I was like, ‘Until I hear her say something about me, I’m gonna continue paying my respect to her in my interviews,’ and that’s what I did. So when I saw her at Wayne’s concert, she performed with Keyshia [Cole], she came into our dressing room like she might use the bathroom and stuff and I stopped her. I was like, ‘I wanna make sure everything is cool with us because I’m a fan first. Is everything good?’ [In Kim’s voice], ‘Yeah everything good, we good.’ Hugs and kisses. ‘Can I take a picture with you? I love you.’ This is somebody that I looked at highly. We took a picture, everything was good.”

Nicki believes her recent success has caused the rift.

“You wanna know what scares people? Success. When you don’t make moves and when you don’t climb up the ladder, everybody loves you because you’re not competition. When you become competition, the people start, ‘Wait, hold on, wait, wait.’”

Kim’s repeated attacks have worn thin, according to Nicki.

“I feel like you’re gonna go down in history now as a sore loser as opposed to going down in history as the queen because if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. You don’t have to feel the need to put somebody down and make yourself feel better.”

As for the comparisons between the two ladies, Nicki says it’s nothing new.

“I see people do things all the time that I think, ‘Hmm, that remind me of Nicki Minaj.’ But it’s like, do you honey. We all take from each other. I did a record on Pink Friday called ‘Here I Am’ and I said nothing is new under the sun. When you see Gaga, you see Madonna. But Gaga never hated on Madonna. Why in the black community we gotta hate on each other instead of saying, ‘Thank you for showing me love. Thank you for keeping my name alive.’ The same way she opened doors for me, I’m now opening doors for her. Because nobody was even playing your music and you damn sure couldn’t get an interview to save your life. But now you getting interviews and everytime you do an interview, they askin’ you about Nicki Minaj. So it’s like, we help each other. That’s the point. We’re helping each other, but if you are bitter, get a life.”