Young Money’s cash chick tells us a thing or two
BY KELLEY L. CARTER
FIRE-RED WIG ASIDE, DOES IT GET ANY HOTTER RIGHT NOW THAN NICKI MINAJ?
By now, you’ve heard her animated vocals on a club banger and, at the very least, wondered just who this 25-year-old female rapper/singer thinks she is. We chat with her right before she puts the finishing touches on her debut album, Pink Friday, due in November, and find out.
ON WHY SHE’S SO HOT RIGHT: People gravitate toward good music. And l like to think that he majority of what I’ve put out falls into that category.
ON WHY SHE WEARS THOSE COLORFUL WIGS: You can be a new person every day. That’s how I feel. I feel like when I change my hair, I’m a different person.
ON WHY SHE KEEPS IT –KIND OF- CLEAN: My fans seem to get younger and younger. So it’s very important for me to speak to a child differently than I would speak to an adult. And when all a child can hear is your music and see the way you dress, that’s the only thing you can really use to kind of steer [him or her] in the right direction. So I toned it down a bit. The music will always remain authentic. So taking out a few curse words every now and then doesn’t make you less credible of a rapper.
ON MEETING LIL WAYNE, HER BOSS: It was nerve-racking. I was very nervous. I wanted to postpone it as long as possible. He’s very intimidating. But it was a great meeting. We spoke for hours and when I walked out of that meeting. I didn’t know if I got the gig to be a part of Young Money. But I did feel like I’d just met an icon, and that was good enough for me.
ON HER BIGGEST FEMALE RAP INFLUENCE: Lauryn Hill. She really changed my life. She probably changed millions of lives around the world. But she changed my life on a music aspect.
ON WHY SHE LOVES MIXTAPES: That’s the only route I could take. I didn’t have an option. What do you do when you don’t have a major behind you, and you know that you have skills and you’re talented and you want the world to hear you? You put it on a mixtape. It’s all about taking you destiny into you own hands.
ON WHAT’S SHOCKED HER MOST ABOUT FAME: How judgmental people can be. That’s the biggest thing. It’s almost like people act like they’re perfect and it makes them feel better to put you donw. That’s the only shocking part. I always knew there’d be jealousy and envy. I guess that doesn’t change, even in the real world, so to speak. There’s jealousy and envy when you’re doing better than people. But I was taken aback by it. It was very shocking in the beginning.
ON WHAT DATING IS LIKE FOR HER NOW: I don’t date guys. I hang out with my girls. They’re sexier, anyway, and they’re more fun. And less needy.
Source: MyPinkFriday.com
