[Charlamagne] Let's shift gears for a minute and talk about New York City. I actually get in arguments because people say Nicki doesn't rep New York. I say "What do you mean? She shouts it out all of the time."
[Nicki Minaj] Y'all don't want me to rep y'all. Y'all don't hear when I rep y'all cause y'all be dick-riding everybody else.
[Charlamagne] She does have a point. Do you feel you get the proper love from New York?
[Charlemagne] So, Miss Nicki Minaj, what do you say to people that say you're trying to be something that you're not like Lady Gaga or Madonna and you're doing things for shock value?
[Nicki Minaj] Well, I mean, I don't know. In a minute, if I fucking sit down and piss, they're going to tell me I can't do that cause another bitch did it.
[Scaff "SB" Beezy] Stupid ass bitches! Yo, niggas just want to compare her to somebody.
[Nicki Minaj] Everybody! If they ever see me sitting down and peeing, they're gonna fucking stone me.
[Scaff "SB" Beezy] Sometimes. Every now and then. You know what I like about superstars? I like my superstars to be out there. Jump out the window! Be like Prince with your ass out. I may see it and say, "Damn, she looks like a fool," but you're a superstar.
That's how I want to see my superstars. I don't want to see my superstars regular.
I can now bring me to who, you know, people see as Nicki Minaj. I can now really bring me into it. And I think that's where the confusion lies, is that people thought that when I first came out, that that was me in my entirety. But that wasn't. That was a small facet of who I was.
When I was an office manager I wasn't having the same conversation in the office that I was having on the block, but I was still the same person. I was Onika. But I knew how to switch it up and have an intelligent conversation with one group of people, get a job, ace the interview, and then go home with my home girls and have fun.
[Charlemagne] It seems like you're very versatile. If it's one thing that I would love for little girls to embrace from Nicki Minaj is the fact that she is versatile. She knows how to kick it in the streets and she knows how to kick it in the corporate setting.
[Nicki Minaj] Right, because you can't do too much of either. You really can't.
It's unfortunate that at times hip hop culture will tell you to lean only to one side, when that is detrimental for your future. It's detrimental for your growth. It's detrimental to your longevity.
[Charlemagne] Do you have any regrets? Cause you've had a relatively short career. This is the second album, and hopefully we can ten more of these. But do you have any regrets in this short time that you've been Nicki Minaj?
[Nicki Minaj] I think my only regret would be not enjoying every single moment when I could have.
I've gotten to a very good place, though. All of my friends and mentors in the game have been reaching out to me trying to encourage me because for some strange reason they knew how frazzled I used to be. And every time I tell people, "No, no, I'm really good. I'm really happy. I'm really at a peaceful place." It's almost like they don't believe me. So I thought the other day, I must have really, really been worried a lot. Because people who know me very well are like, "Are you sure you're ok?" But I really am. I've never been this happy. I'm so proud of this album. I'm proud of myself. And I will not allow anyone to scare me out of my true potential. It's a scare tactic. _________________________________________________________________
[Charlemagne] What is Nicki Minaj's purpose? Because from the outside looking in, I think you're a very blessed individual. Because you got two things going against you. Number one, you're a female. And the female hip hop division was not existent before you started popping. And then you're from New York. There's a lot of rappers from New York that aren't popping right now. So you got those two things going against you.
Being that you were able to break through that and be the big superstar that you are, it's like, "She's obviously here for something." I think it's a bigger purpose than maybe you even know. But what is Nicki Minaj's purpose?
[Nicki Minaj] I have to pray on that. I think that my purpose will eventually be related to some sort of movement for my younger fans, really... I've always had this dream of having a Nicki Minaj YMCA type of thing. When I was young -- well, everybody knows my story -- we didn't have a lot. Free lunch was the thing, "We can get free lunch. Oh, we're going to free lunch. This is like dope!" So I remember those moments and I always play them back in my head. And I wish to think to myself, I wish there was a place we could also go to to go swimming and to do this and to do that.
But things were moving so quickly. My parents were so, not really stable and just -- my father being an addict and all that. In a lot of ways I feel like I didn't really have a childhood. So when I see kids, it melts my heart because I'm looking at them and I'm like "They'll never get this moment back again, and they'll always remember this time." How do we as adults optimize it for them right now, whether they have money or not.
I think that one day I would like to do something for them, for kids in the inner cities, for them to have a place where they can go to and have not only recreation but schooling, tutoring. I remember I was really really smart in school, and I think my mother took that for granted. So she wouldn't really sit with me and take the extra time to give me that extra push. But I think that kids need that.
It's weird because people would never expect me to be so into children's education, but that's real shit. I don't just say that because it sounds good. I really am interested in learning how to build the education system to a point where we have more of a success rate in terms of black children that go from high school to college.
I feel like college was not something that was engraved in my brain. I don't feel like that ever happened. Most of my closest girlfriends, it was just like once they got out of high school they figured, "Oh well, we're good now, we're out of high school," or "I got my GED, I'm good." And I don't want my fans to think like that.
I have such a great rapport with my fans. When they see me, they really be bringing out their Bachelor's and their Master's saying, "Look, Nicki, Look." Because they know how important it is to me. It's OK to have fun (I'mma give you the raunchiest verse sometimes), but I also want you to realize that it's for a time.
One day, you're going to look back and think "Wait a minute, did I really lose my life clubbing and miss out on a moment where I could've been building myself as a woman and having something to offer my children?"
We got so many girls right now having children and don't even know the first thing to say to a child. But you're having a child because I want to keep this dude or it just happened. I want to get us to the place where it doesn't just happen and that we're smarter than that. We're the ones in control again. Why are we never in control?
Why are we stuck with a baby? Why are we always stuck on the welfare line? Why are we always stuck having to beg, borrow, and steal to provide for our children? Why do we think it's something wrong for waiting to have a baby? Waiting until you're 35 or 36 to have children?
Technology has changed – you can wait! Have something to offer them. That's something that's dear to my heart, doing something that makes children feel like "I don't have to rush to grow up. I can enjoy my childhood. I can have somewhere to go for free for recreational purposes and for schooling purposes." That's my bigger goal in life.
[Charlemagne] How do you stay humble? I know you keep a tight circle, you keep guys like Scaff Beezy around.
I'm gonna ask Scaff. How do you keep her humble, Scaff Beezy? Do you ever see her getting a little bit extra...?
[Scaff "SB" Beezy] You wanna know what's crazy? Yesterday, remember I was saying to you, "It's so crazy. She's so famous." If she goes out, anytime we go somewhere, it's such a freaking chaotic zoo movie.
The other day we went to a carnival. We thought we'd be able to be in there, and just go on some rides, and nobody will notice anything. Within like seven minutes the whole park -- it was 10, 15 minutes until we got out.
She really hasn't changed. She really don't act like, "I'm this person" or, "I'm that person." She just be there looking so oblivious to what's going on. Sometimes she doesn't even know she's famous like that. It doesn't faze her. She really hasn't changed a bit.
People take for granted how hard it is so shout out to every woman and man that's won. It's very hard, mentally, this shit is draining and draining. For you to be able to get up there and do music that people love, and do interviews with a smile on your face, and act like this shit ain't getting to you, it's draining.
It's crazy! That's why so many artists go on drugs or become alcoholics. When I was coming up, I never understood it. I use to be like, "What? They are so ungrateful. Why are they on drugs? Why don't they fucking appreciate their success? I would kill to be where they are," until you get here and you are like, "Oh my god! Lord, is this the price I have to pay if I really want this?" And he's like, "Yep. Now let's see who really want it." But, I think I became more than that because people cannot deny... at the end of the day, people can't deny that...
[Scaff "SB" Beezy] Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. You bitches ain't shit, man. You need to just really -- When you see her, get the rose petals, just like she's said before, throw it out in front of her feet. You pour out the champagne. You feed her grapes. If something needs to be sucked, you suck it!
[Nicki Minaj] What!? What would need to be sucked? On you?
[Scaff "SB" Beezy] Ay. Anything. Anywhere. I'm in these streets looking for work. We're all in these streets, we're looking for that work, that twerk.
[Charlemagne] I just want to tell you, Nicki, I think that you're very necessary. I think you represent something way bigger than hip hop. I think that you're gonna take hip hop to new levels. And I think, like how Jay-Z took it to heights and made people be like, "Damn, hip hop can take you this far!?" I think you're taking that baton and you're gonna take it even further. So keep doing your thing, Ma.
[Nicki Minaj] Thank you, darling.
Charlemange da God, singed out!
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This is the very last track in the Deluxe edition of Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded studio album, and it only appears on the digital version. It’s an interview that Nicki and SB have with Charlemagne tha God.
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