Twitter's Odd Pairings: Bin Laden's Reputed Ex-Lover Feuds with a Rapper

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In perhaps the strangest feud to ever erupt on Twitter, Osama bin Laden's former lover has picked a fight with DC hip-hop artist Wale. Now, we'll get to the fight in a second but the first participant of the feud is worth an introduction.

Kola Boof is an Egyptian/Sudanese-American author who wrote about her abusive relationship with bin Laden in her 2006 autobiography Diary of a Lost Girl. The book discloses vivid accounts of their sexual encounters ("he had the most beautiful lips" or "We would be lying there in bed and he'd say, 'African women are only good for a man's lower pleasures'"), many of which appeared in Harper's following the book's release.

Now besides writing about her dalliances with the world-famous terrorist, Boof also writes extensively about black identity and that's the subject that tipped off her impassioned fight with Wale (who's best known for his Seinfeld-sampling 2008 album The Mixtape About Nothing). On Tuesday, Boof went ballistic on Wale, accusing his music videos of pushing white standards of beauty and perpetuating black self-hatred.

“I don’t like @wale because he’s another Colorstruck Black Man who’s videos are pretty much White Supremacist images,” she tweeted. “The fact that @wale is Nigerian makes it all the worse, because he’s setting the wrong example globally for our race. A loser. There wasn’t a single Black woman in ‘Pretty Girls’…so what in the f-ck was he saying about African women?? His own race? @wale and all the rest of these Self-hating Niggerstock Bastards don’t celebrate Black Beauty bec. they can’t C it.”

It was a fuming rant that continued for several more hours until Wale eventually responded. “Kola boof… I won’t beef with you as a rapper, but as a proud black man with intellect,” he tweeted. “We can show the world what ignorance looks like.”

"With all due respect," he continued.  "I can sit up here and say you were porking terrorist like a lot of your peers say. But I’d rather not, because I’m ignorant to whatever relationship you had with Ol’ Boy [Osama bin Laden] and my ignorance to THAT particular subject will keep me quiet."

Interestingly, Wale didn't have to rely on Boof's "peers" for facts about her relationship with bin Laden. It's all in her own words in her 2006 autobiography.

"I can't deny what a good-looking man he was," she wrote of bin Laden in Harper's. "Over six feet with a zesty salmon-orange complexion and very sexy Negro-like facial features, forged by generations of desert sun. I remember thinking he had the most beautiful lips and being overwhelmed by the largeness of his hand when he took mine (to kiss it). Osama's men laughed, and Osama's eyes kept falling on my cleavage."

The feud continued for much longer than what's shown here (if you've got the patience, see their respective Twitter feeds). On a factual level, Boof is wrong about the video "Pretty Girls" not featuring any black women—there are several. Perhaps she's upset their fashion is somewhat westernized? You be the judge:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.