S. Samuel
Young Money's Nicki Minaj has officially caught the attention of Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West who applauded her emcee skills in an interview today.
Speaking with radio host Angie Martinez, Yeezy awarded Minaj multiple accolades.
Kanye said Young Money star Nicki Minaj could be one of the greatest hip-hop stars ever. “This is gonna be such a big statement, and such a big thing to fill: The scariest artist right now is definitely Nicki Minaj. I think she has the most potential to be the number-two rapper of all time. Nobody’s gonna be bigger than Eminem.” When asked what being the “number-two rapper of all-time” meant, he said, “Everything! Having a whole network one day. Everything that comes with it.” He also confirmed that Nicki is on his album, as is G.O.O.D. Music artist Kid Cudi. (MTV)
Last June, 50 Cent shared his admiration for Minaj and compared her to Lil Kim.
“It’s obvious that she was inspired by some of Kim’s [rhymes], but that’s not bad. And it’s not a whole lot of female artists that you can make reference to so you’ll see those little influences even stronger and I think she’s hot, she’s got a good little thing going on right now as far as Nicki Minaj is concerned.” (Power 98)
G-Unit‘s Lloyd Banks recently compared the similarities between Minaj and Kim.
“[Laughs] Sheesh. I would go with Nicki right now,” he said in an interview. “Yeah, I like her as an artist. We came up in the same era, we were around the same age so I’m pretty sure one of her influences was probably Lil Kim and nothing is really reminding of the impact Kim had, since Nicki came. To have a concert and have a hundred Nickies in the front row… not too many new artists come and have a following like that. So you definitely have to acknowledge that.” (VIBE)
Earlier this year, Minaj talked about her “Barbie” movement and bipolar personality.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I have a very, very bipolar personality, so one minute I’m excited and the next minute I’m crying and the next minute I’m cussing and yelling and the next minute I’m singing Enya,” Nicki told FADER writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd. “I’m not kidding. And the point is, my rap style now reflects my true personality. Because I am so weird…I wish I could fricking remember the first boob that I signed. I don’t know why I did it, but now I can’t go anywhere and not do it. People come up to me wherever I am, girls, sexy girls, like, ‘Can you sign my boob?’ I mean, n*ggas in the club look at me like I’m a pimp. They like, Whaaat? Cause they be fly chicks. I don’t know, but I do know it’s a great thing.” (The FADER)
Check out Kanye West speaking on Nicki Minaj below:
