On Tuesday (Feb. 13), Baby Tate shared on her Instagram page a clip from her From The Block freestyle video of “Grip” from 4 Shooters Only YouTube channel. The energetic visual features the Atlanta rapper delivering her sexualized raps along with her quirky facial expressions.

While Baby Tate’s video has been met with praise, some fans felt her animated delivery and stylized look is similar to that of Nicki Minaj.

“Sounds like you have potential but looks like you biting Nicki Minaj’s style too much. You’ll always be compared to her if you don’t develop your own look and mannerisms,” wrote one fan in the comment section of her post, which can be viewed below.

Baby Tate caught wind of the fan’s critique and responded back on Friday (Feb. 16) in the comment section.

“Nicki Minaj is not the first or LAST person to blink their f**king eyes, tilt their head, or be in a general sense ANIMATED in rap or any other genre. I am a THEATER GIRL. I am and will forever be animated, silly, goofy, have fun and fully express that the way I so CHOOSE. If you in your limited mind can only see someone else when I do that, it’s not on me. I’m Baby Tate. PERIOD.”

The “Hey, Mickey!” rhymer then jumped on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday to address another critic who told her she should pay homage to Nicki.

“I did. When I first came out. It’s 2024 & I’m on my 9th year in the game babe,” she wrote in her post. “YALL LATE as to who I am and that is not my fault or responsibility to guide you through the education of Baby Tate. Do ur own research, leave me alone!”

Baby Tate would later apologized to her fans for clapping back at her critics and promised to focus on what matters the most—the music.

“I wanna apologize to my fans for taking the focus off of what matters which is the music,” she typed. “Y’all know I’m a human at the end of the day but the bigger picture is so much more important than being right in a comment. I love y’all for always being by my side regardless.”