PAPER: Among artists of your generation, you’re pretty peerless. But would you ever be into doing a female equivalent to Watch the Throne?
Nicki: I would be open to doing [that] if the time was right. I haven’t thought too much about that, though. The only person that I’ve seen a lot of people speak on, when talking about an album of that caliber, is Beyoncé ’cause we did “***Flawless” [remix] and “Feeling Myself” and we’ve actually performed together. I always see a lot of people saying, “Oh my gosh, a joint album with you guys would be really dope,” but, you know, those are the kinds of things that are just wishful thinking from fans…They’re far-fetched because usually artists are in such different places in their personal lives and career lives that it’s hard to make that work. I mean, I even at one point was about to do a mixtape with Future recently, [but] with me working on my album and with him doing other projects — and he thought we should be in the same place at one point to really vibe — it was hard, ’cause he was on tour and I was in the studio [and the timing didn’t work]. So even when you like an artist and you respect their work, it’s very hard to make those types of ideas come to fruition, but when they do come together like the Jay and Kanye [project], then it’s magic for sure.
Did you ever put acting on the front burner?
Right out of high school I went on auditions ’cause that’s what we did. When you are a drama major, you do a showcase and then agents come to the school. I remember I had so many agents interested at the end of my senior year. It was an abnormal amount of interest. But then when it came time to go on those auditions, you realize that there are millions of [girls like you] auditioning for the same role. You’re not so special. So I just remember realizing, “Oh okay, this is not for the faint of heart…you know, this is gonna be a lot of closed doors, a lot of being told ‘no’ and you’re really gonna see if this is what you really, really wanna do.” I remember having that talk with myself…So I didn’t really pursue it. I was doing it right out of high school, and then I think that last year out of high school, I stopped going on auditions and I started working and writing raps.
Do you have a self-care routine? You’ve always been able to stay really calm and collected in the public eye — how do you keep your cool when things get out of control?
Oh, I keep my cool because I’m a rm believer and I always get the last laugh. That’s been the theme of my life. You can usually bet your bottom dollar that anytime you see something on the Internet going on with me, no matter how it looks, I’m usually behind the scenes laughing. Because I have a strong relationship with God. I’ve watched Him work miracle after miracle in my life. I’ve watched Him shut down every person who’s ever come up against me, and so it’s comical at this point ’cause I sometimes feel like, “Wow. Don’t they know how this movie’s gonna play out? Cause I definitely know how this movie’s gonna play out.” My closest friends and team members and family — we put it in God’s hands and leave it there. And we know that Nicki is always gonna have the last laugh. And Nicki is always gonna continue to be successful because I give so much to people who don’t deserve. And when you are consistently doing good for people who do not deserve your goodness, the universe has no choice but to give that back to you, tenfold.
I have a loyal fan base who never leaves. And all they do is motivate me and believe in me and fight for me. So anything that even seems negative has only made me even more of a magical unicorn. I feel this year I have never been stronger, I have all my super powers back. I’ve never felt this powerful, as a woman, as an emcee — I’ve never felt this invincible.
Nicki continues, “And I think people have thought that they were gonna witness the Nicki Minaj nervous breakdown, but you’ve never seen it and you never will. You’re gonna continue to see me queening at Paris Fashion Week and having fun with my best friends. All my girlfriends have been in my life for over twenty years. I don’t have a circle of people around me of ‘yes-men’ or fakeness — I have my real friends that have been in my life since elementary school, junior high school, high school. It keeps me grounded and it keeps me genuinely happy, and when you really truly feel grateful every day, then you become really invincible. I live my life knowing that I deserve these blessings because I’ve been good to people who didn’t deserve it, didn’t appreciate it, took advantage of me, stole from me, lied on me, all these things and I still never came out and spoke against people. I could say things that would be really detrimental, but I love my life. I feel like when you love your life, you don’t have to hit below the belt. Just keep it moving. I believe in my talent, I know who I am…And when you have that knowledge, you just have to kind of sit back and wait for the rest of the world to catch up. And I feel like this new album is gonna do that. It’ll make people realize, ‘Yeah, okay, Nicki’s not going anywhere. Nicki is really who she says she is.'”
Click here to read Nicki’s full Paper magazine cover story.
