Nicki Minaj caused the Americal Idol auditions in Charlotte, North Carolina to come to a halt on Tuesday, after she launched an expletive-filled attack on her co-judge Mariah Carey.

The 'Starships' rapper and Grammy award-winning diva were sitting on the panel with Randy Jackson and Keith Urban when their war of words escalated. Apparently, Nicki told Mariah before the filming began: "I'm gonna knock you out."

Footage obtained by TMZ shows a furious Nicki shouting: "I told them I'm not f***ing putting up with her f***king highness over there."

Nicki's rant then commenced as follows:

Nicki: Get this s**t in self control. Get in control. Get in control.

Randy: Settle down, settle down.

Nicki: Don't lose your head. Don't lose your head (inaudible). Don't tell me I'm a gangster.

Nicki: (inaudible) every 5 minutes. So every time you patronise me, I'm-ma take it back, and if you've got a f**king problem, handle it.

Nicki: I told them I'm not f**kin' putting up with her f**king highness over there. Figure it the f**k out. Figure it out.

Nicki: I'm not gonna sit here every f**king minute to have you come down and harass me every minute everyday Mariah can be heard talking back to Nicki, although it isn't clear what she is saying.

After the argument, producers stepped in to end auditions for the day to give both Nicki and Mariah a chance to calm down.

The ladies were pitted against each other almost immediately after it was announced that they would be replacing Jennifer Lopez and Steve Tyler on the panel.

Check out Nicki's rant below...

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