As we patiently await her new album The Pinkprint, Nicki Minaj dons red hot heels to cover Complex Magazine. Nicki shows off her fab figure in a range of edgy outfits but she is far softer in her outlook than you’d expect as she discusses her new album, her biggest fear and her plans to start a family.
“I have to put out all six of my albums, contractually,” she said. “After the fifth, I’ll probably have my baby. I wonder if I’m going to be one of those women who balances my child with a career. I always said, ‘When I have my baby, it’s going to be all about my baby.’ I don’t want the child feeling like they don’t have all of my attention, so I always said, ‘I’m going to take a little break.’ But we’ll see,” the rapper opens up.
Of The Pinkprint, set for release on 15 December, Nicki says: “The album is a dope balance of vulnerability and strength, of inspiration and of not being politically correct,” she said. “It’s the best of both worlds. It’s tapping into both sides.”
Here is more of her interview.
On people saying that she’s reverted back to ‘Mixtape Nicki’
“I didn’t go back to “Mixtape Nicki.” That’s how [members of the media] feel, but that’s not what I’ve done. I’ve never stopped rapping; I’ve never stopped doing freestyles; I’ve never stopped doing remixes and features; I’ve never stopped raising the bar lyrically. I understand and respect people’s opinions when they hear me do certain things and say she’s “going back,” but I haven’t gone back, I’ve moved forward. I’ve always been evolving.”
On what she’s addressing on The Pinkprint, which she says is her most personal album to date
“My family, loss, death, guilt…. I’ve struggled with a lot of guilt.
When you’re working and you’re busy and you’re successful, no matter what, something suffers, whether it’s your relationship with your mother, your relationship with your whole family, not being able to go to your brother’s graduation…. Certain things suffer and take the back burner, not because they’re on the back burner in your heart but because the world just moves so quickly. A lot of people, when they’re chasing their dreams, they have to leave people they love. A lot of artists feel that guilt but they don’t express it.”
On what she had set out to accomplish with “Anaconda”
“I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual but be playful with it. And I wanted it to be so melodic that even if you don’t understand English you could still go along with the melody and you would have no idea about all the raunchy sh-t I’m saying—I get a kick out of that. It was simple to write. I just created the melody and then I let the words happen. I started laughing when I said, “Boy toy named Troy.” [Laughs.] That whole song, I was just being dumb. It was a joke. My biggest thing was seeing how my girlfriends Sherika and Thembi were going to react. If they don’t like a song, they’ll be like, “No.” As soon as they walked in the studio, we were laughing and having fun. I thought, if we’re doing this, then everybody is going to have fun with it.”
On Drake’s appearance in the “Anaconda” video
“He’s such a dope actor. After he did that we just busted out laughing and we all were cracking up. He’s such a good sport. I love that he makes fun of himself and doesn’t take himself too seriously. That’s why my friendship with him works so well. That’s why I love him to death.”
On blogs
“I’m not on blogs, so I didn’t know. People see me retweet stuff and they think I’m some Internet person but I’m not. … I don’t want any negativity. I don’t want to hear what’s on the blog. I don’t care.”
On her biggest fear
“If I’m done with my fifth album and I don’t have a child by then, no matter how much money I have, I would be disappointed, as a woman, because I feel like I was put here to be a mother. I have definitely put off the wife thing because I don’t want people in my business. I’d rather not do anything that’s going to be on paper but I definitely will be married before I have my baby. I want to make sure I do it in that order. … By the fifth album, I will have walked down the aisle and I will at least be on baby number one, possibly baby number two. [Laughs] And have $500 million.”
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