S. Samuel
Young Money's Nicki Minaj is ready to bid farewell to her pop success and return to what landed her a mega deal at Lil Wayne's growing music empire by returning to her gritty rapping style.
Nicki said while she embraced penning tracks like “Starships” in recent years, it is time to get back into full-fledged spitting again.
“If I really wanted to right now, I could go back in and make another pop song to sell all this stuff, and I’m choosing not to do it. I’m choosing to get back to my essence and just feed the core hip-hop fan,” she said in a Hot 97 interview. “I feel like I did it, I don’t need to do it again. I don’t know how I’m gonna feel after the third album, but I know for the third album, I’ve just been getting back to that place where I was right before I dropped my first album, which is kill everything.” (“Cipha Sounds & Rosenberg Morning Show”)
Last year, Nicki spoke out on critics going after her for making pop-sounding records.
“I guess I am pop culture just because what I’m doing seems to be popular. When people want to do what you’re doing, it’s kinda popular,” she reasoned. “I don’t ask girls to wear pink hair; they just do it. It’s not about black or white; I think it’s just a statement. It doesn’t matter which color you are; it’s just a statement of being fearless.” (MTV)
She also previously questioned fans’ perspectives and claimed she could make both pop and urban hits.
“I would hope that people know at this point that I’m smart enough to know what I’m doing all the time. But I guess they still kind of waiver. I always intended on putting out something urban after ‘Starships,’ because I knew ‘Starships’ was a monster,” she explained. “Maybe it would be a problem if I couldn’t deliver records like ‘Roman Reloaded,’ but I can. I write my own lyrics. Once again, I write my own lyrics. So it’s never a problem. Whatever I feel, I can write, I can create it. So I’m good. I think people sometimes get blown away by the magnitude of the pop stuff, because the pop stuff, it reaches everywhere and then I feel like my hip-hop fans or hip-hop culture starts getting a little bit afraid that I’m going to leave. But this is who I am. I’m not going to change – I’m just adding on to my brand. And if you don’t understand that, then it’s probably why you don’t travel and you don’t see the world and I probably can’t even have a conversation with you anymore.” (Hot 97)
Last fall, the platinum-selling rapper talked about her follow-up to 2012’s The Re-Up.
“[It’s] a continuation of the Re-Up with a lot more. I have a lot more to say,” Nicki said in an interview. “But production-wise, I like where the Re-Up went. I want to continue down that path and add onto that musically. … At this point, it doesn’t even matter [who I work with], to be honest. I’ve worked with so many amazing people and thank them again for giving me the opportunity. I feel like at this point, it doesn’t matter. I feel like whoever I’m meant to work with, I’ll work with them. It’s out of my hands, it’s out of my control now in terms of who I want to work with. I think it’s just about the right time and the right chemistry.” (FUSE)
Check out Nicki Minaj’s interview:
