TIA: Nicki Minaj stopped by Genius on August 15th to chat with Rob Markman…
NICKI: I’m chosen. I'm the chosen one.
I’m not going nowhere until the fuck I want to go somewhere.
TIA: ...and drop some knowledge about her creative process during our Nicki Minaj: Lyrical Queen
experience.
ROB: Who was the first rapper that you heard that you was like oh this is what I wanna do?
NICKI: Slick Rick.
ROB: Me too.
Me too, what was the record?
NICKI: Mona Lisa, right?
ROB: Mona Lisa, okay.
TIA: The Queens MC has had quite a journey, and while she’s now considered one of the
greatest in the game, Genius wanted to find out more about how she writes her rhymes.
So, we asked her to share the story behind one of her signature lines.
NICKI: Puffy, on the fucking phone said to me.
Cuz I was like well, I’m gonna meet with you and I told him who I’m gonna meet.
He was like yo check this out.
Man like all these niggas is my sons man, niggas can’t tell me nothing.
I put the phone on mute and cried.
It tickled me so much I just had to keep it as part of my repertoire.
TIA: And if you’ve ever wondered just how many times Nicki’s called these bitches her sons,
Genius counted.
ROB: Nicki how many do you think?
NICKI: Eh, 75.
ROB: This feel like the Price Is Right, don’t it?
Fifty-one!
My man right here got it, fifty-one!
TIA: Nicki also talked about her mentor Lil Wayne’s influence on her personal style.
NICKI: Everything Wayne did I wanted to do.
Wayne’s signature is F stands for whatever.
So because Wayne had that and I thought I was the female Weezy, I was like oh my god
I need to have that be a trademark thing I always do.
TIA: And who could forget Nicki’s verse on “Monster.”
NICKI: It was so different that I did not even approve the mix on my vocals,
everybody that know me know how crazy that is.
He took other takes and put them together in one take.
Because I did not want all those grunting sounds in one verse.
TIA: Nicki says she’s switched up her methods when it comes to writing her bars.
NICKI: Recently I’ve switched the approach to doing a reference type of mumble track
on the beat and to me whatever I do the first time is usually the dopest flow and I just
like to kinda keep that flow and then add words to that flow.
TIA: Nicki also explained how important it was to expand her vocabulary when she writes.
NICKI: You’re a girl how do you get so in depth with sports stuff?
I said Google it’s your best fuckin’ friend.
TIA: And as a woman in the rap game, she took time to call out some of her critics.
NICKI: I did an interview with Flex, right.
He said, You know how I knew you write your lyrics?
Because of Barbie Dreams.
Because it shows that you’re aware of what’s going on.
NICKI: It’s almost like men think that being a woman is a handicap.
No, it’s not a handicap we’re very intelligent, we're paying attention.
TIA: She also addressed her relationships with other MCs.
NICKI: What I’m saying is, I think that was a very smart thing you just said,
and I have gone out of my way to be open arms and loving and accepting.
To this day, I treat Foxy like she’s the fucking Queen of Egypt.
My thing is this, you don't have to be nasty, you can acknowledge that you’re inspired...it’s okay, we know.
It's ok, we know.
I named several females, over and over and over and over and fucking over,
but they don’t tell you that story about me.
TIA: And spoke about her place in the culture.
NICKI: I was on Twitter building my fanbase, booking shows myself, okay.
I didn't have all of that shit, I couldn't pay bunch of people to say they liked me and do all of this shit.
My talent.
My talent!
Y’all think that doing all this shit behind the scenes that you were gonna get rid of
me and somebody fucking lied.
TIA: If you wanna hear more from Nicki, check out the full interview on Genius’ YouTube page.
I’m Tia with Genius News bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.