— Nicki Minaj never envisioned herself as hip-hop’s reigning “it” girl.
The question alone makes her giggle as she offers an answer nowhere
near as cocky as her saucy rhymes.
“When I was growing up I thought I’d be a famous
actress,” she says. “Acting came very natural to me. I didn’t imagine
all this music stuff happening.”
Minaj is harnessing those drama skills, which she honed at LaGuardia High School in
by assuming the identity of one of the many animated alter egos she’s
masterfully crafted in lyrics: There’s Roman Zolanski, her gay male
counterpart;
the Ninja, a spotlight stealer; Nicki the Boss, who runs her own
empire; and Nicki the Harajuku Barbie — the over-the-top doll who
doesn’t hesitate to sign the breasts of her adoring female fans.
With those razor-sharp bangs, a penchant for
colorful wigs, vibrant, body-hugging attire and brazen guest verses,
she’s been on a lot of people’s lips of late. Like Lady Gaga, much of
her appeal hinges on her image, and Minaj’s quirky, charismatic
presence seems to have arrived fully formed. The masses — including her
more than 1.5 million Twitter followers — have gobbled it up.
But somewhere within the caricature resides
entries in one year on Billboard’s 100 — she’s had eight — all before
the release of her debut album, “Pink Friday,” last week.
On a recent afternoon she is doing what she does
best: playing dress-up for the camera. After a photo session, she is
shuttled to a
studio for another shoot. Wearing a blue and black bob, bubble-gum pink
bomber jacket, hip-hugging jeans and pink high-top sneakers, Minaj
might look like she’s channeling one of her alter egos, but her
sheepish grin and demure demeanor suggest that the real Onika is coming
to surface.
The buxom rapper got her break when mentor
After he mentored a set of mix tapes — 2008’s “Sucka Free” and 2009’s
acclaimed “Beam Me Up Scotty” — she landed a record deal through his
She took the “femme fatale in an all-male crew”
formula to another realm by employing sexually ambiguous lyrics to
raise the pulses of both men and women. Almost overnight she went from
an underground character to go-to voice on singles from
With few female emcees on the charts, Minaj has been
hailed as a kind of savior with pop crossover potential. In the last
half-decade, rappers such as Foxy Brown, Eve, Lil’ Kim and Elliott have
been out of the spotlight, and with
vaguely on the scene, the absence of a powerful female voice has been
notable. Minaj glows when there is mention of the heads she’s managed
to turn.
“I’m excited that people use the word ‘revive’ in
association with me and female emcees. I never thought I would be such
an instrumental part of anything,” she says.
“I just pictured myself coming in and rapping. But
of course, it’s like, the best thing to hear because not only am I
doing this for me but I’m doing it for so many other girls.”
The attention hasn’t been without backlash, even among her would-be peers.
one half of pioneering group Salt-N-Pepa, told Vibe that although she
thinks Minaj is talented, because of her youth “she hasn’t learned the
message yet” and will fail to move female rap forward. And Lil’ Kim has
been vocal about her contempt for the newcomer and has accused Minaj of
mimicking her style and failing to respect her legacy.
Minaj laughs it all off and bats her thick
eyelashes. She seems loathe to discuss the rivalries, though she not so
subtly addresses a few of them on “Pink Friday” tracks.
“It’s the most annoying thing I’ve had to deal
with,” she says. “It’s like, just let me be me. You’ve never seen me
before. Period. Every female that rapped inspires me because I know
that being in a male-dominated industry is hard. They have all paved
the way for me.”
“The females haven’t been as dominant as she’s been right now,” says
her label. “I think that’s great for the business of hip-hop. We need
more of that,” he says. “(But) she’s different from any other female
that has done it. She exercises her own vision. It’s been magical
watching her develop.”
Given the majority of her chart presence has been
from guest spots, some feel she’s unproven as a solo artist, especially
after the poor performance of her first Cash Money single, “Massive
Attack” — a song that didn’t even end up making it onto the album.
All eyes were on her at this year’s Video Music
Awards, where she performed with will.i.am during the pre-show program.
When she took the stage, her look was a cartoon fantasy: a futuristic
purple spandex cat suit suggesting “The Jetsons,” mixed with a Betty
Rubble-esque pink pouf. She used a mash-up of the whimsical “Your Love”
and the will.i.am-assisted “Check It Out” (which smartly samples the
Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”) to stake her claim.
Like her many personalities, Minaj’s music bends and
flexes. She can be vicious and raw like the boys on a mix-tape track
such as “Itty Bitty Piggy,” her shining verse on West’s “Monster,” or
her alter ego’s tag team with Eminem on “Roman’s Revenge.” But she can
play a candy-coated pop girly-girl as on her VMA showing. She is
adamant that fans will get a taste of the real Nicki on the album — at
least as real as she wants you to believe.
Regardless, Minaj’s goal for “Pink Friday” is to
present her unfiltered self. “I just want it to perfectly relay my
thoughts, and sometimes it’s hard to really say what you want to say
because you’re trying to please everyone else,” she says. “But if when
this album comes out I can say, ‘Yes, this perfectly describes me,’
then I’ll be happy.”
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