Nicki Minaj looks super laid back for her recent shoot with Complex Magazine. Normally, we see her in bright colors and outrageous outfits but she toned down her look for this shoot and I love it.
Complex: The successful female rappers that have come before you each had a strong male counterpart. How do you make sure people don’t say Lil Wayne is pulling the strings on your career?
Nicki Minaj: I always keep Nicki Minaj separate from Young Money. I allow Wayne to call the shots when we do group albums, but when I do other things and have other choices, I don’t necessarily need everyone’s go-ahead. I write my own raps, I go in the studio by myself. There are some female rappers who can’t go in the studio unless they have a ghostwriter sitting right next to them. I’m the complete opposite—I’ll go in and ghostwrite for someone.
Complex: You’ve said in recent interviews that you want to tone down the sexual content in your music. What prompted that?
Nicki Minaj: On “My Chick Bad,” I had to show people that I can spit a verse without sex or talking about how good I look. I’m actually timid when it comes to being overtly sexy, which is weird because in the beginning people thought of me like some freakin’ porn star. Guys reference sex all the time in their raps—I can’t even think of a record where Wayne doesn’t talk about sex—but when a female does it, people start tuning out. Then this gay dude the other day told me, “I say to dudes, ‘Maybe it’s time to put this p*ssy on your sideburns.’” I was crying laughing and I was like, “I can’t take this shit out of my act.” People live for that sh*t. [Laughs.] I just have to balance it a little bit.
Complex: 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.
The shoot is hot, love the black and white. I can't wait for "Pink Friday" to drop, I'll be listening to all the sex lyrics and whatever else she has to say, LOL. Check out the rest of the interview over at Complex.
