The rapper was speaking at Wednesday's Pollstar Live! event at The Beverly Hilton -- just hours after beefing with Meek -- when she addressed the heated social media outburst.

She framed her answer as advice for up-and-coming artists. saying it's important to ignore the small stuff and keep your eye on the bigger picture, and specifically in her case ... put out music and shut the hell up.

Clearly, Minaj didn't practice what she was preaching, when she called her ex a clown and accused him of being a woman-beater ... after Meek apparently disrespected her husband, Kenneth Petty, by liking a meme about him.

Nicki says if she could do it over again, she would've fought the urge to go on the attack and suggests every time she does something like this ... 5 minutes later, she wishes she hadn't.

But, she's not one for phony excuses or backtracking either, so she tells the crowd she considers it a lesson in mastering her anger and emotions ... a lesson that bears repeating.

As we've reported ... Nicki and her hubby have been at odds with Meek Mill since running into him at a store last month and shouting at each other. Though things escalated quickly on social media Wednesday, they seem to have cooled considerably after Meek dropped one final tweet denying Nicki's allegations.

If Minaj sticks to her own advice, maybe things will be chill from here on out ... but we wouldn't bet on it.