LOL there is something endearing about Nicki Minaj with all her zany antics, animated faces and schizophrenic like persona I like this chick. She's not your most profound rapper but she manages to keep me smiling and listening time after time. She is featured on the cover of Complex with Kid Cudi on the other cover!
Check out her pictures, video interview and some excerpts from her Complex Magazine interview!!!
Via:
Complex LV
Complex: Everyone has this image of you as a cartoon character with outlandish wigs, but at our shoot today you were much more low-key.
Nicki Minaj: [
Laughs.] Every woman is a character—but people need to see I'm a regular human. It's like you wear a pink wig and you're no longer human all of sudden. You're a thing. Like today [the photographer] was like, "Where is that Nicki Minaj smile?" But this shoot doesn't call for the Nicki Minaj smile. You guys wanted me subdued, so I'm gonna give you a different side. I'm not gonna pull a string and be like, "It's Barbie, bitch!"
Is it intimidating to know that, besides The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, there are very few indisputable classic female rap albums?
Nicki Minaj: I want to do well, but I don't think I'm intimidated. People's expectations of what I'm capable of doing are very low. People have been used to hearing little one-liners and me play around.
You think people still underestimate you, even with the success you've been having?
Nicki Minaj: Absolutely. A lot of people don't know I wrote all the hooks on the album. I arranged the music, did the transitions. [Other female rappers] are told what to do, but I run my entire empire; I don't think people would expect that.
Was it hard for you to get that latitude from the label?
Nicki Minaj: My generation is creative; all we need is a Baby or a Slim to back us. We don't need you to tell us what to do, but we need you to nurture our decisions, and I think Cash Money understands that. I didn't have Wayne obviously, since he's been in jail, so there wasn't anyone I could have called and asked for help. Actually, when I've relied on people in the past is when I've made the biggest mistakes. When I trust my gut, I win.
What are some of your biggest mistakes?
Nicki Minaj: I won't say.
Were they recent mistakes?
Nicki Minaj: Yeah.
Recent as in "Massive Attack"?
Nicki Minaj: [
Laughs.] Next question.
What has Wayne's involvement been on the album?
Nicki Minaj: He really hasn't had any involvement on it. But to be honest, the album doesn't sound like Wayne. I mean, he's my biggest influence, but it doesn't sound like Wayne's stuff. It sounds like Nicki.
You have the smash single "Your Love" out right now. When did you record it?
Nicki Minaj: Two years ago, before I dropped
Beam Me Up Scotty. I loved the beat and the hook, but I didn't like my delivery on it; that's why I re-recorded it when it leaked. [Before it leaked] I was like, "This is going in the trash."
Speaking of Young Money, did your labelmate Drake tell you he'd be mentioning wanting to marry you on his verse for "Miss Me" before you heard it?
Nicki Minaj: He told me he said something about me on a verse, but I didn't think it would be anything like that. He let me hear it for the first time when we did Jay's show at Madison Square Garden, the day before Wayne had to go to jail—that night he let me hear it on the headphones. But you know what else he told me he wrote for me? The Alicia Keys song "I'm Ready." I happen to love the song. I never told anyone that, I hope he won't get mad that I said that.
