By La'Juanda Knight
Who Is Nicki Minaj?
You see Nicki Minaj on the Internet posing and the first thing that
might come to mind is porn star. You
hear her high pitched voice and see her chocolate skin and you associate her
with a fellow soprano rap phenomenon Foxy Brown. The fact is that we have seen
much of Queens, NY female MC on the Internet and DVD’s lately. She has the body of a porn star
and is often posing like one. Lastly, Lil
Wayne was so impressed with her that he wanted to meet her and they even did a
song called "Higher Than A Kite." You would think that a co-sign from Weezy F.
Baby would be enough to calm the naysayers; however it appears that her
judgment has just begun.
With that judgment comes the natural interest; who Nicki
Minaj? Rap audiences do not know much about her besides the aforementioned.
Nicki knows that she has peaked the curiosity of her peers and the tribunal
audience members and is ready for the delay to end. Good news folks. It has.
AllHipHop.com: At one point you used to sing so what got you
interested in rapping?
Nicki Minaj: I always liked rap. I used to beat on the
tables in the lunchroom but I didn’t think I would ever be any good at it. I
used to do it as a joke. When I asked one of the dudes I was singing for to let
me spit. I did like 8 bars on the spot. I wrote it from the top of my head. He
said he liked it. That was it. To be honest I never thought I would be a
rapper. Once I did one and someone said it was good I felt like I could only
get better. Also singing was so boring to me at that time. I didn’t want to be
singing love songs. Rapping was so much more creative and I felt like I could
just be myself.
AllHipHop.com: What brought you to the point where you
decided you were going to pursue it professionally?
Nicki Minaj: I started rapping with a group. It was three
guys and just me. I met them when I was just fazing into deciding whether I was
going to rap. Being around them made me feel like I could do this. I would love
to be with a crew like this. They gave me so much props. Before I left the
group a lot of people would ask me why wasn’t I solo. Before that I was hiding
behind the group. But then after three years I felt like I knew what I was
doing. I just started thinking that I was loosing time rather than gaining time.
AllHipHop.com: You have a sexy image. Are you ever concerned
that your image will over shadow your talent?
Nicki Minaj: I worry about that all the time. That’s why a
lot of people waited so long for my second mixtape. I need people to know that
I just started being this sexy Nicki Minaj. Prior to the last year I was just a
rapper. A lyricist trying to figure out how to convey my thoughts into rap. Now
all of a sudden the sex thing has taken off. The name and all that. When people
don’t know me they think I’m a porn star.
AllHipHop.com: What made you go with the sexy image? You
could have debuted being hard.
Nicki Minaj: Fendi. When he saw me, I had on regular jeans
and sneakers. Fendi saw me and said you can take yourself to the next level if
you show more sex appeal. I’m not going to lie, I was afraid to go that route.
I wasn’t the girl in the club that walks around like that. Do you know what I’m
saying?
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, I do. That’s not me either.
Nicki Minaj: Right! I
feel like it’s an art. It started happening from the name. People just started
to expect it. I guess I just gave people what they wanted.
AllHipHop.com: What do you think about being compared to
Foxy Brown?
Nicki Minaj: I love Foxy Brown. I haven’t heard anybody flow
like her. She definitely has got the hottest flow. As far as female rappers
that I looked up to when I was coming up, I always admired her for her flow. So
if I’m compared to her then that’s fine.
AllHipHop.com: What was so dope about her flow to you?
Nicki Minaj: That she was very precise. Whenever she rapped
it sounded like she spit that shit over in her head a hundred times and she
knows exactly how she wants to get it across. It doesn’t matter how many takes
she has. I love that! I want it to sound the way I hear it in my head and I
will do a thousand takes if it takes that.
AllHipHop.com: Female rappers like Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, and Trina;
they all have a sexy image. What are you going to bring to the game that is
going to make you an individual? What is it that they don’t bring to the game?
Nicki Minaj: I don’t see them being playfulness. I don’t see
them bringing swag…Well I shouldn’t say swag.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, I was going to say, some of them do
have swag.
Nicki Minaj: I would just say the playfulness. I appeal to
the younger crowd. I don’t take myself too seriously. Sometimes I feel like
telling the other girls to loosen up. People want to be entertained at the end
of the day. Everyone else is a female rappers but Nicki Minaj is an
entertainer. I’m not only a rapper; I’m a singer, an actor, a writer. All those
other things are going to come to life very soon.
AllHipHop.com: Do you mind me asking how old you are?
Nicki Minaj: I’m 23.
AllHipHop.com: Where do you get your material from?
Nicki Minaj: I get up and start writing. On my mixtapes its
old beats that I always wanted to rap on. I wake up in the morning and
something would come to my head and I will write it down and go back to it.
Sometimes, I will go a week and it’s like I can’t be a rapper I can’t think of
shit right now. But it comes. [laughs].
AllHipHop.com: How did you link up with Lil Wayne?
Nicki Minaj: Wayne
saw me on the Come Up DVD. I was right
after his section on the DVD. He made calls. Well one call to Fendi. He knew
Fendi. I met him. He told me he wanted me to be the female face of Young Money.
AllHipHop.com: What were your thoughts when you heard that
Lil Wayne wanted to meet you? Were you nervous?
Nicki Minaj: My thoughts were to scream to the top of my
lungs and jump out of my seat and go crazy. [Laughs] I was like there is no way
in hell that Lil Wayne likes me. I didn’t shop my demo to anybody. He saw me
and liked me. What I love about him is that he didn’t need a co-sign from
anybody to say yeah I f*ck with her. A lot of people jump on the bandwagon. Now
that Lil Wayne cosigned me I got a lot of people saying they f*ck with me. He
was just like I like her.
AllHipHop.com: What is it like working with him?
Nicki Minaj: It is like watching a superstar and hoping you
learn as much as possible from him. He doesn’t write. He is very cocky and
forces you to be cocky. He will tell you in a minute. I’m about to body you on
this beat. We have a lot of friendly competitions but it’s good.
AllHipHop.com: What do you think is the most important thing
you have learned from him?
Nicki Minaj: That anything is possible. When I think about
it, he signed his first contract at eleven. Two years ago if you told somebody
that Lil Wayne would have been in the same category or even stage as Jay-Z,
they would have been like hell no.
AllHipHop.com: He did blow up.
Nicki Minaj: Exactly. I draw strength from that. Before Wayne, Jay-Z was my
favorite rapper. But before people were even up on the Lil Wayne bandwagon I
still loved him. He has a lot of hard work in. That’s another thing I have
learned. He is still so hungry. His work ethic is so crazy. Who am I to say I’m
tired and I don’t want to go to the studio.
AllHipHop.com: Will Young Money be your home? Or are you
shopping for another record label?
Nicki Minaj: Young Money is my home. But you know… Umm…
AllHipHop.com: Take your time
Nicki Minaj: [Laughs] No. Young Money is my home.
AllHipHop.com: Have you signed with them?
Nicky Minaj: The negotiations have really gotten far. Its
looks like 99 percent.
AllHipHop.com: How do you think your videos helped your
career? It seems like the videos helped you stand out?
Nicki Minaj: Yes. It is a very visual thing. When people
think of Nicki Minaj they think of my video. I think that with the videos,
people get to see your personality.
AllHipHop.com: I was going to say that. The whole story you
had going on in “Warning.” You’re acting
was realistic. Even your body language.