Respect, Respect!
Nicki Minaj appeared on the Queen Latifah show in launch of her new clothing and accessories line which is now available in Kmart, Sears and shopyourway.com. It was surreal moment for Queen Latifah having starting her success from the same path as Minaj as a female rapper back in the 90’s hip hop era. Latifah told Minaj: ” I’m sitting here with a female rapper on a talk show started by a female rapper. This is a moment for me. .. It’s a really a full circle moment for me you know because I probably never envisioned this.”
Minaj seemed more down to earth and comfortable during the interview and noted that one of her growing pains of the industry is understanding who she is Onika Tanya Mirage [her real name] and not playing too much into the character of Nicki Minaj. Minaj also points out that ‘Acting’ was her first love and therefore it was very easy to fused that talent in her music, videos, and image, however she doesn’t want that to be ” the end all be all ” of her legacy.
Check out a few excerpts from her interview below:
First, Nicki thanks Queen Latifah For Paving The Way For Female Rappers:
” You’ve opened so many doors for me and so many other women and its insane because I always reference you when I talk about females rappers who kind a paved the way in terms of a business woman , a mogul and a all around entertainer. It’s just a great moment for hip hop so thank you for having me. ”
On Being The Leading Female Rapper In The 21st Century:
” I just take t oone day a t time. I always want more So I am one of those people who when I get a compliment in the back of m mind I’m like … yeah right whatever. I never think I’m where I want to be so its weird… Right now I feel like there’s alot of work to be done and I want to inspire my fans to never stop. I don’t feel like we did it and we’re done. “
On Staying Focused In A Male Dominant Industry: :
” It’s been crazy because most of the program directors in hip hop radio are men and I’ve had conversations with these people and there like you know what I can’t related to a female rapper. I don’t want to see my female rapping. Because rap is braggadocious so alot of guys don’t want to see a woman like that. And I find that even with women we want to hear a male rapper more than we want to hear a female rapper and I don’t think that’s going to change. “
On Being A Judge On ‘American Idol’ :
” It was scary. Just as black woman and being apart of hip hop. I always been on the bottom of the totem pole… trying to prove myself [that I can have a conversation, I can speak on variety of subjects. So I kinda felt I was representing for som nay different reasons. I made a mental note each day because I didn’t want to come across as the character of Nicki Minaj. I wanted to be the human being -Onika Tanya Mirage [the one that no one ever speaks to] and Idol gave me that opportunity. “
On Her Newly Launched Myx Fusions Moscato Drink:
” I wanted to create a lifestyle drink. It’s only six percent alcohol. “
Latifah and Minaj then played a fun game of wheel of accents where the two had to demonstrate the accents of different countries where the wheel had landed. Take a look a the full interview below: