Crown Interview Highlights with Nicki Minaj

Hey, hey, hey! How you guys doing? I want to thank everybody for coming out. My name is Elliott Wilson. This is Crown. Crown is a live interview series where we get fans like you to be with your favorite artists. We've done this since 2012 with Kyle, the creator, J. Cole, Drake. And the reason we're doing this again is because I think the most popular one featured the person we're going to bring out tonight. So you're saying you got that Queen album? Yeah! Nah, but straight up I want to thank all the fans. I want to thank the Bobs in particular for helping to make this moment happen. You know, we never, we never, we never... Alright, okay. Who you here to see? Jay! Y'all be putting pressure on me too, man. Y'all be like, you better ask her about, don't you dare ask her about. It's like, what do I have else to do, man? Nah, but for real, it's a pleasure, man. You know, not a lot of artists can go four years between albums and still shatter the game. Like this lady has, man. You know, you see what it is, man. I'm gonna say it for the record. She's not only one of the all-time great female rappers, one of the all-time great rappers in general. Period. Put a big period on it. And I'm excited you guys are here. I'm excited to talk about the album. Everybody make some noise for Miss Nicki Minaj! I don't know what you thought. You didn't know this, I can tell. That truck, what it's watch. I don't know about a whole lot. I'm a b**** in the beat These hoes is on the ground Like a b**** up in the tree And the hoes is what's up the You know, you're on my mind My time is to get a hand back My time is to get a hand back Give it to the devil My time's your hand back I'm the first time the GOAT's here, GOAT's here Like a fat cunt GOAT's here I ain't running a point with this GOAT's here Look at my boss, I told him knock it off Only thing that make a doofus know to knock it off I'm not crying on the gym and I'ma knock it off Anything but knockin' in the damn pocket door I'm in the pocket door, my club droppin' off You see a copy in my hand, I told him chop it off Yeah, whip the top of his off And I see him don't regret when I drop him off I ain't never played a whole position I ain't never had to struggle to get the pole position Holes is this in, okay, these holes is wishing We're in no position to come for all's position I ain't even weight, but I'm in the boat position I ain't looking right, but I'm in the boat position Work hard, just a little hard work Work hard, just a little hard work Getting to it that way Coming back straight, work hard just to get her back, work hard just to get her back try to be like grown-ups tonight. A little bit. Because, you know, they're streaming it, and I don't want them to think that we don't know how to act in public. Don't be embarrassing, Nicki. Tell the boss. Right. But I do want to say before we get started that I'm so excited to be here, and I'm honored that you guys came here tonight to hang out with me. I love you so much. I love you so much. So Nick, congratulations on the album, first and foremost. And thank you for doing this. I started with Hard White because I feel like that's like, you know, obviously one of the hardest cuts. And on that song, you have the refrain about working hard. Like, a lot of hard work was put into this album. Can you talk about like that process for you and like how rewarding is it now to finally be able to share it with the world? Yeah, it's definitely been the... My longest break between albums and it's because I felt like, you know, I owed it to my fans to give perfection this time. Like, I feel like there's no sense in rushing the work because you can never do it again. Like, I knew I would never be able to put out the fourth album again. again. So I wanted to take my time. I know my fans were like, you know, when you're going to put it out, why are you pushing it back? But I just, I know my fans well enough to know that they'll kick and scream, but they want the best. They want perfection. so having the album finally out it feels like i just gave birth to a fucking baby i'm so happy like i really i've really just been like in a permanent i've been in like a permanent good mood like i was talking i was telling i was telling g yesterday when we were at the we were at some show and i was like you know normally like the things that would piss me off before Don't piss me off anymore. You know, like, I'm just, like, chilling. Like, I'm like... Like, I'm at, like, a great mentor space right now. When you listen back to it now, right, like, with a little bit of space now that you finished this body of work, you have it, like, and you promised that it was your best body of work. Like, why do you feel it is your best? When you listen back to the mix, like, how would you explain why this is your best body of work? It's the best body of work because I put more attention. I'm always very big on detail. But this time, I feel like I made every lyric count, every bar, every punchline. every like flow and also I feel like even when I slowed it down with like some of the slower cuts it didn't drag you know like I didn't want the slower songs to be super long like four minute songs so that's why I run and hide and even Come See About Me they aren't really long they're like just enough to get you in your feelings and to get out What were some of your favorite memories or moments putting the project together? Well it's so funny I didn't want to make the album in New York at all. But all of a sudden, I started not having a vibe in Miami. And so I came to New York. And in one day, I laid not the final lyrics, but the reference tracks. Meaning I just will have the beat playing and lay a mumble to it and lock my flow in. In one day, I did Good Form, Coco Chanel, and Miami. Thank you. So those, it's crazy. Those three songs are a New York vibe. Like, that's my New York shit coming out in that one. It was the first time, it was the first, it was right away as soon as I landed in New York. It was like, New York was like, what's good? You know? Yeah, and so I had no clue that I laid four songs. There's another one called Regular Degular. It's going to be on the Target version. I laid four reference tracks the minute I stepped foot in New York. New York. I don't know what that was all about, but... Yeah. So we used the track Regular Declan. Fans always want the info. What's gonna be the other bonus track for Target? Oh, Bobby Tings is gonna be the other bonus track. But, um, but we also added, uh... Fifi. Shout out to my baby Takashi because I love him. And also, I wanted to let you guys know that I'm in a great... Well, you know, because of streaming, we get to now update the albums. So now I can add, like, I can work... There was a... I'm not going to touch... Okay, here's the thing. So since you said it, because you know... All right. This is the thing, Elliot. This is what happened. I had this hook from Swae Lee, who I love, and I knew this record was hard as fuck. Yeah. But I'm just like, it's so hard, I don't need to... I'll get it, I'll get it. I kept on just putting it off. I'll get it, I'll get it. I know I'ma freak it when I... You know what I'm saying? And then, all of a sudden, it was time to turn my album in, and I didn't have shit written on the... I didn't have nothing done. So I'm like, oh my God, what I'm going to do? I'm scared now because I don't want to not have it on there. So the verses that you guys hear on Chen's sway, that first verse is, I promise you, I had to do it. in like 15 minutes. And then the second verse, I took it off of a different record. So I do want to go back and do... Because you know what it is? No, I will say that. Because it is so raw. It kind of sounds like a really great demo because it's so raw. Right. The whole thing is like... It is. It is a really great demo. But I want to I want to change the verses personally because to me like if you listen to any other record on the album If you listen to good form if you listen to LLC you I'm riding that beat crazy but chansway Okay, you guys love good form y'all like the good form since y'all But listen, am I gonna get your blessings y'all to update the verses on Chunsway? Yes or no? No? Oh my God. Alright, forget it. You also polled your fans. Unfortunately, a cut that didn't make the album was Sorry, your collaboration with Nas. That's another one where you polled your fan base now. Now can you explain what happened with that and why? why that ended up not making the album? All right. You guys, I'm gonna beat the living crap out of y'all. Be quiet, y'all. Y'all don't never change. Y'all always so... Well, listen, you guys, this is what happened with Sorry. And I felt bad, because Nas really likes that record, too. But we just were told that Tracy Chapman don't clear stuff like that, and that no one could really reach her. So I don't know if technically she said no, or if they just couldn't reach her. But nobody wanted me to push the album back. So I was like, you know what? I'll just wait. I mean, I'll just go ahead with the album. And I knew that. one record would not make or break the project. But it seems like it's more influenced by the reggae covers of that song, right? Absolutely. Right, and that's the thing. We didn't know Tracy Chapman wrote that song because it's a vintage reggae dancehall song. It's the other Foxy Brown, right? Right. Yeah. And I had no clue Tracy Chapman wrote it, but we know now. Yeah. But how did you and Nas putting a song down come together? Oh, Nas was working on his album. This was before I really started having anything locked in for Queen. And he was working on his album, and one day he called me. It was in New York, actually. And one day he called me to the studio, and he said, yo, I think I got a beat that could match your vibe and mine, and it doesn't feel like I'm in your world or you're in my world, and it doesn't feel awkward. And as soon as he played that beat, I was like, yo, this is perfect for both of us. And he told me to sing Sorry on it. So I took it, you know, I flew out, went to L.A., and just sent it back. And he was like, yo, you did it really good. That was my first demo of it. I never changed it once I did it the first time. We like this. And then afterwards I put harmonies at the end, but I mean I just went with his you know direction How much of the lyrics reflected real life? Oh our verses are to our dead ass to fuck serious And you went oh so crazy about the verses. He was working on his verse for a long time and couldn't really, like, he couldn't really get it. You know, like, he kept on saying, I'm working on it, but it's not coming, or, you know, I'm not feeling it. And then one day he hit me and he was like, you know what, I feel like our verses should be about each other, right? I was like, duh. Of course. Well, we did see you in the 88 Benz, and that was very nice. So you guys were cruising around. You shared a little bit of that. Oh, another Nas idea. He just hit me out of nowhere one day and was like, yo, I want to do some pictures, and I want to do it with this old car that I have. And, you know, I'm picking up the car today, and I want you to come with me to pick up the car. So he told me the vibe of how to dress, and I just had people drop me off some clothes and popped up looking like like a bad bitch. He was like, he was, you know what I'm saying, sweating the kid and I was like, what's good, daddy? You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? He was like, he was like, yo, Nick, you look like the rich drug dealer girlfriend, but the drug dealer girlfriend that got her own bag. Queens. Queens in the building. Yeah. Is it a hard adjustment for you that now your personal life is garnering so much attention? And do you worry that it kind of may overshadow the art or just be so linked with the art at this point? They do that because they know we're live on Saturday, you see? Yeah, that was private and now like since the situation's been up and down. Well, I remember in the beginning, you guys, I never spoke about my personal life at all. Like, niggas thought that was my gay best friend. And, you know... And not in a negative way, but it's just like I kept my private life private and it's because of that. Because I wanted people to only talk to me about my music and my craft. And now, and then after the whole like dating in public and stuff, like I don't want to ever do that again really, to be honest. Like it's so annoying. That's how you feel? Alright, but let's get back to the music though. Like, I do notice like from, you mentioned the Sorry record, which unfortunately didn't get cleared, but now you look at the outro with Foxy and especially the intro, which I know is one of your favorites, the ganja burn. Like, this sort of like, you know, obviously being a trendy girl, that heavy Caribbean vibe, I think that surprised a lot of people how much sonically you went back to that sort of sound, right? I'm so glad you noticed that, because a lot of people, no one's mentioned that to me before. But, right, it's very, very Caribbean-based, you know, and, yeah. I don't know like and even when I sent Eminem Majesty I had that reggae break at the end of Majesty and I thought he was gonna be like nah I ain't really fucking with the outro I just wanted to see I'm like let me see if he gonna say you know something about it and he just he ain't say shit he was like we good so I was happy to know that you know he could appreciate my culture and because I don't it's weird like I feel even though I moved to this country at a young age I always feel like an island girl. I never feel like an American girl. Island girl down in Toronto, let me go home. Yeah, I always feel like that. So it was a blessing that certain things just happened, like the ending, the second section of Barbie Dreams. I had that. That's... That was Roman for sure. That was Roman for sure. But I had that for a few years just sitting in a tuck. And that just happened. Yes, I did. Yep. And who gonna check me? I didn't put it on the pin print. But, and then the majesty thing, I had majesty done before M. God won it. And then Labrim sent the files. And we were in the studio, and I don't know, I just heard that break at the end. I don't know how or, like, how that turned, but it just inspired me to do a whole new flow. So I said, Juice, pull that up. And then I just put, like, a shout out to my baby Juice. But I just pulled it up. And you know what else, too? I wanna like on the documentary and I don't know exactly when the documentary is coming I don't know exactly when it's coming probably in a couple weeks but like but I want to play you guys what the songs sound like the first moment I touched it versus now cause you'd be surprised it sounds exactly the same just with no words like how with Chun-Li yeah I just was like uh uh uh uh uh uh but it be the same fucking flow the first time I be the first time I do it you have to nail the flow first before the words come yeah Speaking of words, though, what I also find interesting about Ganja Burn, like it being the intro and having such as that smooth pop and groove, it almost kind of, at first when I listened to it, I didn't catch how aggressive that first verse is, though. Like the first verse, and the second, like the first in particular, like, do you like that juxtaposition? Like, because it seemed like, like, here's this smooth kind of party groove, but at the end of the day, you're like, they don't want to witch doctors to bury the Barbie, but I double back, kill bitches, bury the body. And I go for anybody thoroughly, sorry, I can wage war. coming in peace like Gandhi. Why was it like it's almost like a manifesto? Like to me, it felt like a manifesto of what you've been going through, like since we last had an album from you. I love the way you describe everything, Elliot. I love that you do your homework. You're always, yeah, shout out to you for that. But it does feel like that. I mean, this is the thing, what happened with Ganja Burn. As soon as I heard the beat, I... I started smoking. Which is new for you, right? That's new for you, right? Yeah, it's very new. I just started smoking weed like a year and a half ago, right? So I took a couple pulls. And as soon as I took a couple pulls, I just got really inspired by that beat. I had just heard the beat for the very first time in my life. And five minutes later, I walked in the booth and laid the Gunja Burn part. Right? That part? But what came to my head first to say was Every time I get high, I just think about you. So now, cut to afterwards when I write the raps and they're hard. I didn't want to change that. Now, the old me would have changed it to go with it's a hard rap. But the new me is so comfortable in my creative choices. I was like, no, fuck that. That's what I felt. That's really what I felt on the chorus the first moment I heard it. So I'm going to just. And you know what I realized? I said, wow, people, human beings, we're like that. that we might be having a raw as fuck conversation. We might be angry. But in the middle of this somewhere, there's still vulnerability, there's still pain, there's still love. So I was like, I don't have to change it. If this is what the beat says to me, then it'll speak to other people that way too. I just left it. It seems like often, you know, you talk about how you pride yourself about that everything comes from your pen and you write all your lyrics. It seems like very often, you know, you as much of an MC, a lot of your... Wait, hold on you guys, hold on, hold on. A lot of your content is about almost like you asserting your strength. Why do you think that that seems to be such a staple in your approach in song making? I just feel like when I started rapping, everyone was a battle rapper. So to me, rap has gotten so soft now. Like, it's like everybody's so sensitive and everybody looks for every little line. Are you talking about me? Eh, eh, eh, eh. You know, it's like, it's like my nigga, it's rap. It's rap. This is not opera. This is rap. So sometimes you're gonna hear some shit that, I listen to records that I put out five years ago, Three years ago, two years ago. and if I was to put it out right now you would think I'm talking about somebody right now because that's just how New Yorkers rap like I don't I remember I asked I remember I had a conversation with Meek about that one time when we were together and he said he was like you know what niggas that don't fuck with me when they hear my raps they get more offended because my raps always sound like I'm talking to a nigga like like I'm gonna take his bitch. But you don't, but you won't hear niggas, you won't hear people saying about, saying nothing about men when they rap aggressive. You know what I'm saying? But for me, it's a double standard. I'm a rapper. I love rapping. I love my, I love the culture. of rap. And I don't think I need to be politically correct all the time. You should assert yourself in rap. You should say you that bitch or you that nigga. Let me tell you something. When Lil Wayne came to New York and had the audacity to say on New York radio he's the greatest rapper of all time and he's better than Jay-Z, niggas wanted to slap the fuck out of him. But he said what he fucking said. He said what the fuck like he said. And you know what ended up happening after that? After he claimed that over himself? Manifested it, yeah. Yes. How do you deal with that? Because it seemed like for a time, you got to the point where you were so dominant. and especially in the female rapper space, and you'd win all the awards, and it was almost like you almost, to me, almost started to get embarrassed because it was like, you know, there wasn't as much competition. Now it seems like it's way more competitive, you know? You have people out there. When you say, is Queen a statement of, in your mind, like, defending your position? I think people look at, people use that word competition loosely. Okay. I will say this, I will say this, people use the word competition loosely. And sometimes I don't know what people mean when they say that. And also, I think it's insulting to say I didn't have competition all these years ago because there's always been competition. been great female rappers in the industry and it's not right to say that okay yeah but do you embrace that or do you feel like it's it's important for you to assert that you have the top position like what statement is there i can't not have the top position No, I'm not trying to be funny. That's like, I'm not trying to be funny. That's really like you, that's, hold on, hold on, hold on. That's really like you bringing Jordan here right now and asking him, does he have the top position? That's really like you bringing Jay here right now and asking him does he have the top position. Yeah, no, no, I said you're one of the all-time greats. The work that a person puts in doesn't erase. My legacy can never be undone. You said my legacy can never be undone. My legacy can never be undone. I'm a prodigy or I be done done. Got these bitches, they shot the sun. I'm the Billy Billy goat, the goat, the goat. Vintage Hermes by Jean Paul Gaultier. Lagerfeld customized my goat. I run the... You bitches just won't cheer. I run the Macadam, I run the Macadam. And you got the goat. Put my crown on again and I'ma knock it off. Anything that... My plugs drop it off. Tell them chop it off. My God. All right, all right, all right, all right. Do you feel like some of that... No, no, let me say this. Hold on. See, no, no. Let me say something. Hold on, you guys, sometimes, like, when I say things, it's not in a nasty or a cocky way. And every time, when I say, whenever I say things, it comes across like it's being in a cocky way. Would you ask Jordan, does he have the top, like, Jordan left, came back wearing a 4'5", and you still could not ask Jordan if he had the top spot. There's nothing that anyone can do even up to this point where they ain't gonna be compared to Jordan my nigga Like that's period like you will never ever not get compared to Jordan but isn't it this but isn't it similar to a certain sense in the male field where fellow YMCB, Drake's accomplishments are beyond a lot of the landscape. But the same thing where it's like because somebody's been that successful, they're almost always fighting for that idea that they're the hottest right now. I don't fight for that. If I was fighting for that, I would have been dropping a record every year. I'd be dropping a record. I'd be dropping an album every couple months. I don't think people understand I can't do that. So do you? I can't. No, seriously. I can't do that. The reason I don't do... The reason that I... Let me tell you. The reason why I don't do that... And the reason why I can come off of the internet for months and chill is because I'm not intimidated. I know who I am. I know who I am. I know my capabilities. Therefore... And therefore, it's like, I don't have to fiend out and rush and thirst. And, you know, sometimes, you know, if I want to take a cut, you know, if I want to take two years off, I'm going to take two years off and chill. Like, I'm not, it is, nothing changes. Nothing changes. Nothing changes. Let's get back to the album. One of the most popular songs also shows you your versatility is when you get into that bag where, you know, Nikki's going to always have that track that things get a little emotional. And it's Come and See Me for once. Come See About Me. Let's come see about me. I'm sorry. You said that that record, like, you cry when you hear that record. Like, what was it like making that record, and why is that record such an important piece to the album? Well, because I think it's like, you know, when you're a female and you come across as a strong woman, people forget that you kind of need to be loved too. And sometimes you even forget that you need to be loved because you're so used to, like, you know, being that bossy woman. But you do. And shout out to all my women in here tonight. Don't Don't get so bossy that you forget that you deserve love. You know? Absolutely, absolutely. You deserve somebody to make you feel like they adore you. And the Come See About Me track, it was me thinking of, I don't know if I should say who I, you know. I'll just have some water real quick. No one's watching, Nick. No one's watching. No worries. I was thinking about the same person when I wrote the hook on Ganja Burn. And then... Anyway, so what I was feeling was like, damn, you know, I cut this person out of my life completely, but I wonder, does he, you know, does he think about me? Like, would he ever check on me? And then when they do check on me, I'm a bitch, you know? So it's so weird. Like, I'm such a fucking, ugh. I'm a walking contradiction when it comes to love. Like, it takes such a long time to break me down again. Because I feel like, especially with that particular one I'm talking about, I feel like I just, I went, I feel like I went in head first. and I never looked back. And so I was really, really hurt behind that. And the other thing is, people expect you to be able to just get up and write an album or record, and it's like, what the... had nothing to say. I had nothing to give. I was so broken as a human being and I didn't know who I was anymore. You know, I was, I was lost like spiritually. I had to spiritually find myself again. Emotionally, I had to connect again. I think that sometimes when we're in relationships, we make that person God and that person is not God. Okay. You have to learn. You have to learn that you will be just fine. without them. And when you have that confidence and that strength and that security, you bring so much more to the table, you know? And whenever a person wants you to be clingy or insecure, some... something ain't right. That means they want you at your lowest self. Right. They know that's a way to manipulate you. They know that's a way to, you know, just keep you where you at. And I have to say, in my experience, experience, I've experienced men who are intimidated by a woman who's more successful than them and try to bring me down. I've been in situations where, you know, people tell me horrible things about myself all the time, hoping that I won't be confident and hoping that maybe if she's not confident, maybe she won't post sexy pictures and I can, you know, niggas won't look at my girl, You know, but when you got with with Nicki Minaj, you knew this is... You know, I always... I think about, like, Janet Jackson. Like, Janet Jackson, when you go... When she's performing, she's still gonna give you sexy Janet. Like, whether it's Janet or Madonna, these are icons of our time. They're not gonna put on a long kilt or, you know, you know what I'm saying? Like, a fucking apron or... I don't know. Like, they're gonna wear bonded shit and sexy shit and they're gonna be who they feel like being like regardless if they're in a relationship or not so I can't change that if you're not secure enough with me being a sex symbol then don't be with me at the same time I believe in making your man feel like a king I believe in being submissive to a man to a certain degree I really do and I know people would never believe that but I do believe in that I think your man should feel like I don't think that you should step on your man's toes. And even though I'm a lot to handle, I fall back in my relationship, you know, because I don't want to make a man feel belittled. As you get a little bit older, you realize that that's the worst thing to do to a man. A man needs to feel like, yeah. And when he doesn't feel like that, he finds someone that will make him feel like that. You know, so I'm careful with it, but I'm also careful not to. rush into anything anymore where people are just very insecure. Speaking of playing into, I think it was great to see that they didn't show insecurity and most of the people took it with a great reaction was the Barbie Dreams record, right? Where you go in and you playfully take control in that situation. What made you go that direction with that record? Do you remember what inspired that idea? Like, I'm really going to do this and I'm just going to go in? You wouldn't know it was so crazy. when I was like when I was was dating someone I was I started I started to write Bobby Dreams and I and I stopped because I was with him like I had so much respect for him I was like I asked him I said would you feel funny if I you know and he gets it he knows the record of course but he gave me two answers a boyfriend answer and a rapper answer. And because of that, the album was about to come out. Like, if me and him didn't break up, we wouldn't have had Barbie dreams on Queen. Because I had that much respect for the man I was with, you know? So I will say everything happens for a reason. Because I'm very happy that I did it. Because at the same time, it is my art. It's a tribute to rap, hip-hop culture, Biggie. And, you know, like, I was with Flex last night. And the way he reacted to that song, I was just like, this is why I did Bobby Dreams. You know? Yeah, because you talk about Chen Li. Like, a lot of negative stuff was drawing your way. And people started a little bit of a backlash, bad person. A lot of people were saying, like, well, Nikki would have just. just drew that record out, that would have changed the way a lot of people were talking leading into the album. Yeah, but I purposely did it that way. Chun-Li set the tone because I wanted to let people see I am fully aware of what y'all say about me, number one, and I don't give a fuck. So once I established that, then it was time to play. I don't think that in an era called Queen, I need to drop my first record talking about fucking and sucking. I believe that when you can digest the entire body of work and you can hear things like Anja Byrne and Nip Tuck, then you can hear Bobby Dreams. Because don't forget, I get held to a higher standard. Because God forbid I say the word. pussy and dick because you know goth you know male rappers don't talk about fucking and sucking and eating and you know what i mean only nikki minaj talks about sex so i felt it was my responsibility to not put something that was that one she out first because they just always on my And even Flex said that last night, and I was telling him that Jay-Z told me the same thing. He was like, you're held to a higher standard. Everybody gets, everyone gets judged less than me. All pretend bars. They're less than you. My fans be having bars. That was a fucking bar. Wow. How did the Barb thing, and you're looking back on it like, why is this, we've seen other fan movements, but this obviously seems very strong and very special and very consistent. Almost to the point that sometimes they step out of control. And now, do you bear any responsibility when they do that, in your viewpoint? Well, when I first, when my fans and I first started interacting on Twitter, I used to tell them, do not drag people. I used to unfollow them if they dragged people and if they were mean to people. however it's but so much my fans can take. It's like, if you fuck with somebody and you keep on seeing people lying on them and hurting them and not giving them their props, you would be mad too. And my fan base is not like a fan base. We like family. I always say that. I always say that. So, so, I find it odd that motherfuckers want to be able to say the most horrific things about me, but when my fans get in that ass, they want to play victim. But when everybody everyone's attacking me, I'm just supposed to stay there and take it. I'm not allowed to defend myself because, oh, you're too big to defend yourself, but you just said I was a nobody. So which one is it? You know, they love to rip me apart, and when I say some shit, now I can say some shit. I can say some shit. You'd be surprised. You've said some shit the last couple days. I'm gonna let you know, every time I say some shit, that's a fraction of what I could say. Right. And I noticed that as soon as people can talk about me for years and years, they can bash me. They can try to tarnish my image, my legacy. I'm not allowed to speak. I'm not allowed to stand up for myself. So when I was gone, I wasn't online. And when I came back and saw that my fans had been making the fucking covers of blogs and magazines and newspapers, I cracked up fucking laughing because I was like, you know what? Oh, well, that's what the fuck y'all get. Leave me to fuck Fuck alone. Shut the fuck up. My fans be minding their own business. My fans will really mind their business if y'all will leave me the fuck alone. We're happy you're back. And I think that's the problem. They want to be able to tear me down. Let's not act like, you know, there hasn't been a calculated push by many people in the industry to end my career in the last year and a half. You know, they've done so much. And every time when they see this little... Yeah. When they see this little ting here, back up and kicking, they be like, yo, what the fuck is it gonna take to get rid of this bitch? You can't get rid of me, bitch! I'm not going nowhere! I'm not going no fucking where! What is it? What is it? What we see, what we see, it's funny you say that, I mean you know hip hop history, we've seen all this, the kind of run that you've had. You know at a certain point the music doesn't drive them the same way. They look to other ventures. Can I ask you something, Elliot? Yeah. What female rapper? Well, forget female rapper. Because I don't want to say, because all the female rappers have opened the, paved the way for me. In general, who's out right right now? You probably could name five or less. right that is on their fourth album with three four records on hot the hot 100 right now at this moment on their fourth album next week uh from barbie dreams to fifi to big bank to bed next week well obviously it'll be a lot more because my album came out right but but look think about that so when i say people coming for my success i really feel bad for all the other artists who are trying to do their thing. Artists who haven't put out an album in a long time. They see niggas dissing me and being like, uh, uh-uh. But meanwhile, they don't even, there's some artists that don't have a song on the Hot 100 right now. So how you think y'all making them feel? You know what I'm saying? I see singers, they putting out videos, they doing their thing. They want, they're making their comeback, they're incredibly talented, they have a fan base. But y'all act, but people are sitting here dissing me when I have four fucking songs on the Hot 100. And an album that's number one in 85 countries. How does that make sense? So when you diss my success, you're dissing so many other people, so many other artists who don't even have one record on the Hot 100 right now. You know what I mean? You see what I'm saying? How do you balance it out? Because that's one thing you have done in the hiatus. You've been very active with guest features. And like you said, now look at Fifi. That record, it's almost like you're competing with yourself. How does that feel when you're on a record and you're also competing against your singles? Right. Well, I try not to have the same... sonically I try to always keep them different. So, like, if you notice, Bed and Fifi are completely different. Big Bank is more of a West Coast sounding record. They're very different. I always try to make sure. Like, I wouldn't put out a record right now on my album that sounded like Fifi. Yeah. You know? Or if it's a pop record, which there are a couple records that are about to come out, you know, with a different sound. I wouldn't put out a record that sounds like that myself. I would let the artist, the artist who's featuring me, shine in that. space but they do know that obviously if you if you put me on your song even though even though it even though it leads to great things because if you put me on your song it's streamed I think 600 times more or something like that it's like a dope statistic but they also run the risk with if I have a lot of songs that radio at that moment you know getting the short end of the stick but they take that chance you know because we I bring I always push myself on people's songs, you know. I still get paid to do features. I don't think you heard me. I'm not telling y'all how much I get paid. Y'all so nosy. But I'm saying, for that alone, like, that's a blessing. Sometimes I'll be forgetting to thank God for those tiny little things that I take for granted. Like, do you know what it is to get paid for a verse? Like, that's something that we have to be grateful for. That is an artist and a label's way of saying, we appreciate what you do. We appreciate what you bring to records. We think that you put your heart and soul into it. Right now, there's some female singers that, you know, I wouldn't normally get on their song, but I took a step back. And one singer told me this label recently dropped her. And it really hurt me. And I was just like, I listened to this girl's record, and she's super talented. And I listened to other people they have on. their label and I'm just like yikes it's really all a popularity contest labels do not care about talent anymore it's about your popularity so the music industry has changed drastically because of that so when I was growing up, I would put on the radio and hear talented people. When you guys put on the radio now, you hear popular people. Right? And that's the difference. So you got to hold on and treasure the ones that are still here, not because of popularity alone. And I would be silly to say that I'm not here because of, you know, popularity partially, right? Because my fans are such a powerful force. Like, you know, they'll get something trending. You know, I got Queen Radio now. in life Like, we had, oh, my God, that's so dope. But at the same time, I never have ever relied on that just by itself. I never relied. That reminds me to think when people first saw you with 6ix9ine, they probably thought that could be something like that, that he's popular, you're trying to connect to his way, blah, blah, blah. But then getting to know him and seeing how talented he is, and the story behind it, you said you had heard him cut a demo of that record or heard a raw version of it. He posted it. So you recognized it as a potential hit. Absolutely. That's why you jumped on it. Well, absolutely. And that's the other thing people don't notice. You have to. have to have an air you know to know what to get on right so i had to know big bank and fifi were gonna do well big bank is about to be number 15 or 16 on the hot 100 right shout out to yg um yeah like so my thing is If I... I saw him put it on his Instagram, right? I followed him on Instagram. Because, of course, anybody wearing colorful hair is gonna spark my interest, you know? It's so funny, it's so cute. 6ix9ine thought he reinvented... Multi-colored hair. So when I pulled out like my pictures from the Mac, when I had like the rainbow... I had to send him like three pictures with me wearing multi-colored hair and be like, nigga, what? Cause he was like, yeah, why you... you trying to jump on my swag, you know what I'm saying? All that. I was like, relax. Now, I didn't even want to do colorful hair in his video because I didn't want to take his little shit on. So I left him, I let him rock, you know. But after the video, I sent him pictures with me. with me wearing colorful hair. So he could know, colorful hair don't care. That's why I said that, right? But I heard it, and the reason why it drew my interest is not because I thought 6ix9ine was popular. It was because it reminded me of Slumber Party with Gucci Mane. And whenever I hear somebody that's doing something that reminds me of my flow, I want to, you know what I'm saying, pay attention. I'm like, what's good? So His thing is, you know, Summer Party has got that super soaker, pussy pop like Coca-Cola, plus it's tighter than that. Got her smiling like the Joker. Got that da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na little... Okay, and then how does Fifi go? Fifi. So I was like, oh, okay. So I like the beat. I fuck with Murda. You know, Murda's beats is always hard as fuck. So I followed him. I didn't know he was going to hit. hit me and ask me to get on a record. I don't go and ask people to get on a song. What the fuck? Like, they ask me and I'm honored that he asked me. And I'm not gonna shit on him. I'm not gonna be on the bandwagon and laugh and diss him and act like I don't think he's talented and I think he's very genuine and very dope. What was it like shooting that video? Getting down with the ice cream and all that? He was scared. He was so nervous. I had to say, I had to literally shake him. He was just like, you know, and we were sitting in, the first shot we shot was in the thing, in that little tub type of thing with the balloons or whatever. And I think he was scared to come too close to me or touch me. So I said, my nigga, you be having all this mouth on the phone. What's good? Like, you know? So I had to rough him up a little bit. Made him change his clothes. that. I heard too. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You were changing him close. He was changing him close. But I think that, I think he liked being pushed. True creatives true creatives love being pushed. Like I love being challenged too. Like if a person tells me like even, he didn't think I was gonna do three looks. He didn't even think I was gonna do two looks. You should have seen the look on his face. He was like just expecting me to hurry up and leave and just be like alright I did my part. But instead I was like no let's do it. You got all these dope sets here. I want to have fun. I want to play. I like playing dress up. So when I said, when I said after I shot the first thing, I said, why don't you change? I'm going to change. He was like, you're going to, you're going to stay? You're going to shoot? Yes. Change. Go ahead. Let's do this. You know, because I love what I do. I love my job, you know? And he had a very humble spirit. You know, it's a great thing to work with people who are humble, you know, who make you feel appreciated, you know? Even though, yes, he's hot, he's... hilarious. He trolls. People love him. He trolls. But when it came to me, he showed me so much love and respect and for that, I will always fuck with him. And you're bringing him on tour. Why did you decide to pair with Future for this tour? Future has always been someone who I consider a real friend. Now in this industry you have friends and then you have friends. and he's one of my friends you know he's someone who I've never dated I've never been did anything romantic with nothing but when I sit down in a room with him he and I can talk for hours he talks to me like how he would talk to a guy like we talk about the industry we talk about business moves and so when some things didn't work out how I wanted it to with the tour I thought about future because Because Future has so many hits that it's like, to me, even if Future ain't put out a hot... album two weeks ago, he got so many fucking hits. Catalog, yeah. Yes, his catalog is exceptional to be a rapper, you know, from Atlanta. So I was like, you know what, let me see if Future will want to do it. And he immediately said, I would love to do it, you know. So I was like, okay, perfect. I feel like he was one of those people who treated me the same way. When everybody turned their back on me, he treated me the same fucking way. He never switched up on me. I mean, not to go back to be negative, but... How did you overcome that? Do you feel like the ties turning and whatever backlash existed is going away? Did you shut a lot of people up, you think, with this album? Yeah. Did it go back in a way? And is it important for you to be viewed as more popular? What does that mean for your career at this point? I don't want to be viewed as more popular. I want to be viewed as skillful. Yeah. I don't know why people get me misconstrued. I don't care about all that other stuff. The word of the day is skill. Skill. The word of the day is skill. Thank you, baby. I want people, let me tell you what made me so happy was that people listened to this album and said it's her best album lyrically. And that's the best compliment a person could ask for. I spent all this time working so hard. And like that means something to me. I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't matter. It matters. That's what we do this shit for. You know what I'm saying? So I'm talking about all of the greats, all of the people I look up to. up to told me that I impressed them with this album. Do you know how good that feels? It's funny because I think that that's the path you're on now, too, is that you want that uncertified greatness. Like, you talk to Jay, you work with Em, you know, you still are under the tutelage of Wayne. It's like it's important for you to, like, be part of that bigger entity, like that you're recognized amongst those greats when it's all said and done. Listen, Pink Friday, Eminem, Kanye West. And prior to Pink Friday, I was already on a record with Jay and Kanye. So you tell me, you tell me, what new artist gets co-signed by Jay, Kanye, Eminem, and Wayne? What would be the equivalent to that now? To me it's still the same. They still the ones you gotta see, right? You still gotta check in. My thing is, that's never happened before or since. Has it? No. So I'm very proud of that. That people could have treated me just like someone with, you know, some random New York girl with a big butt and, you know, whatever. They never have. All of them. treat me like a lyricist. And when I talk to them behind the scenes, I got so many messages from so many people like, yo, you outdid yourself. I'm proud of you. And that's why I do this. Not for fucking popularity. I have popularity. I could stop doing this right now and still be talked about every fucking day. I can do dumbass shit and be in the news every day. Instead, I go to the studio and push my pen. That's what I want to do. What's your best verse on Queen? I swear to God I was about to say LLC, but I don't know if you heard the story I said about LLC that Jay complimented my third verse. My third one. Now I love the first one. You loved the first one because he didn't compliment my first one, so I rewrote the first one. So that's why the first one is now the best one. Because he said he liked other songs, but on this song, he made it his business to own it. only compliment one verse out of the song. So I know he's a smart person, and I know that was probably his way of saying, mm, you could have came harder on them other two. So I didn't even ask him. I just put it in my little, you know what I'm saying? And when he left, I was like, yo, Juice, pull up LLC. Like, we getting that shit over, nigga. Keep it rolling, Juice. Yeah. And Nikki, congratulations again on the album, and thank you for doing this. Thank you. Make some noise for Elliot, y'all. Yeah, Nikki Minaj.

Hey, hey, hey! How you guys doing? I want to thank everybody for coming out.

My name is Elliott Wilson. This is Crown. Crown is a live interview series where we get fans like you to be with your favorite artists. We've done this since 2012 with Kyle, the creator, J. Cole, Drake.

And the reason we're doing this again is because I think the most popular one featured the person we're going to bring out tonight. So you're saying you got that Queen album? Yeah!

Nah, but straight up I want to thank all the fans. I want to thank the Bobs in particular for helping to make this moment happen. You know, we never, we never, we never...

Alright, okay. Who you here to see? Jay! Y'all be putting pressure on me too, man.

Y'all be like, you better ask her about, don't you dare ask her about. It's like, what do I have else to do, man? Nah, but for real, it's a pleasure, man. You know, not a lot of artists can go four years between albums and still shatter the game. Like this lady has, man.

You know, you see what it is, man. I'm gonna say it for the record. She's not only one of the all-time great female rappers, one of the all-time great rappers in general.

Period. Put a big period on it. And I'm excited you guys are here. I'm excited to talk about the album.

Everybody make some noise for Miss Nicki Minaj! I don't know what you thought. You didn't know this, I can tell.

That truck, what it's watch. I don't know about a whole lot. I'm a b**** in the beat These hoes is on the ground Like a b**** up in the tree And the hoes is what's up the You know, you're on my mind My time is to get a hand back My time is to get a hand back Give it to the devil My time's your hand back I'm the first time the GOAT's here, GOAT's here Like a fat cunt GOAT's here I ain't running a point with this GOAT's here Look at my boss, I told him knock it off Only thing that make a doofus know to knock it off I'm not crying on the gym and I'ma knock it off Anything but knockin' in the damn pocket door I'm in the pocket door, my club droppin' off You see a copy in my hand, I told him chop it off Yeah, whip the top of his off And I see him don't regret when I drop him off I ain't never played a whole position I ain't never had to struggle to get the pole position Holes is this in, okay, these holes is wishing We're in no position to come for all's position I ain't even weight, but I'm in the boat position I ain't looking right, but I'm in the boat position Work hard, just a little hard work Work hard, just a little hard work Getting to it that way Coming back straight, work hard just to get her back, work hard just to get her back try to be like grown-ups tonight. A little bit.

Because, you know, they're streaming it, and I don't want them to think that we don't know how to act in public. Don't be embarrassing, Nicki. Tell the boss. Right.

But I do want to say before we get started that I'm so excited to be here, and I'm honored that you guys came here tonight to hang out with me. I love you so much. I love you so much. So Nick, congratulations on the album, first and foremost.

And thank you for doing this. I started with Hard White because I feel like that's like, you know, obviously one of the hardest cuts. And on that song, you have the refrain about working hard. Like, a lot of hard work was put into this album. Can you talk about like that process for you and like how rewarding is it now to finally be able to share it with the world?

Yeah, it's definitely been the... My longest break between albums and it's because I felt like, you know, I owed it to my fans to give perfection this time. Like, I feel like there's no sense in rushing the work because you can never do it again.

Like, I knew I would never be able to put out the fourth album again. again. So I wanted to take my time. I know my fans were like, you know, when you're going to put it out, why are you pushing it back?

But I just, I know my fans well enough to know that they'll kick and scream, but they want the best. They want perfection. so having the album finally out it feels like i just gave birth to a fucking baby i'm so happy like i really i've really just been like in a permanent i've been in like a permanent good mood like i was talking i was telling i was telling g yesterday when we were at the we were at some show and i was like you know normally like the things that would piss me off before Don't piss me off anymore. You know, like, I'm just, like, chilling. Like, I'm like...

Like, I'm at, like, a great mentor space right now. When you listen back to it now, right, like, with a little bit of space now that you finished this body of work, you have it, like, and you promised that it was your best body of work. Like, why do you feel it is your best? When you listen back to the mix, like, how would you explain why this is your best body of work?

It's the best body of work because I put more attention. I'm always very big on detail. But this time, I feel like I made every lyric count, every bar, every punchline.

every like flow and also I feel like even when I slowed it down with like some of the slower cuts it didn't drag you know like I didn't want the slower songs to be super long like four minute songs so that's why I run and hide and even Come See About Me they aren't really long they're like just enough to get you in your feelings and to get out What were some of your favorite memories or moments putting the project together? Well it's so funny I didn't want to make the album in New York at all. But all of a sudden, I started not having a vibe in Miami.

And so I came to New York. And in one day, I laid not the final lyrics, but the reference tracks. Meaning I just will have the beat playing and lay a mumble to it and lock my flow in. In one day, I did Good Form, Coco Chanel, and Miami.

Thank you. So those, it's crazy. Those three songs are a New York vibe.

Like, that's my New York shit coming out in that one. It was the first time, it was the first, it was right away as soon as I landed in New York. It was like, New York was like, what's good? You know? Yeah, and so I had no clue that I laid four songs.

There's another one called Regular Degular. It's going to be on the Target version. I laid four reference tracks the minute I stepped foot in New York.

New York. I don't know what that was all about, but... Yeah. So we used the track Regular Declan. Fans always want the info.

What's gonna be the other bonus track for Target? Oh, Bobby Tings is gonna be the other bonus track. But, um, but we also added, uh...

Fifi. Shout out to my baby Takashi because I love him. And also, I wanted to let you guys know that I'm in a great...

Well, you know, because of streaming, we get to now update the albums. So now I can add, like, I can work... There was a... I'm not going to touch... Okay, here's the thing.

So since you said it, because you know... All right. This is the thing, Elliot.

This is what happened. I had this hook from Swae Lee, who I love, and I knew this record was hard as fuck. Yeah. But I'm just like, it's so hard, I don't need to... I'll get it, I'll get it.

I kept on just putting it off. I'll get it, I'll get it. I know I'ma freak it when I...

You know what I'm saying? And then, all of a sudden, it was time to turn my album in, and I didn't have shit written on the... I didn't have nothing done.

So I'm like, oh my God, what I'm going to do? I'm scared now because I don't want to not have it on there. So the verses that you guys hear on Chen's sway, that first verse is, I promise you, I had to do it. in like 15 minutes.

And then the second verse, I took it off of a different record. So I do want to go back and do... Because you know what it is? No, I will say that. Because it is so raw.

It kind of sounds like a really great demo because it's so raw. Right. The whole thing is like... It is.

It is a really great demo. But I want to I want to change the verses personally because to me like if you listen to any other record on the album If you listen to good form if you listen to LLC you I'm riding that beat crazy but chansway Okay, you guys love good form y'all like the good form since y'all But listen, am I gonna get your blessings y'all to update the verses on Chunsway? Yes or no? No? Oh my God.

Alright, forget it. You also polled your fans. Unfortunately, a cut that didn't make the album was Sorry, your collaboration with Nas. That's another one where you polled your fan base now. Now can you explain what happened with that and why?

why that ended up not making the album? All right. You guys, I'm gonna beat the living crap out of y'all.

Be quiet, y'all. Y'all don't never change. Y'all always so... Well, listen, you guys, this is what happened with Sorry.

And I felt bad, because Nas really likes that record, too. But we just were told that Tracy Chapman don't clear stuff like that, and that no one could really reach her. So I don't know if technically she said no, or if they just couldn't reach her.

But nobody wanted me to push the album back. So I was like, you know what? I'll just wait. I mean, I'll just go ahead with the album.

And I knew that. one record would not make or break the project. But it seems like it's more influenced by the reggae covers of that song, right?

Absolutely. Right, and that's the thing. We didn't know Tracy Chapman wrote that song because it's a vintage reggae dancehall song. It's the other Foxy Brown, right?

Right. Yeah. And I had no clue Tracy Chapman wrote it, but we know now.

Yeah. But how did you and Nas putting a song down come together? Oh, Nas was working on his album. This was before I really started having anything locked in for Queen. And he was working on his album, and one day he called me.

It was in New York, actually. And one day he called me to the studio, and he said, yo, I think I got a beat that could match your vibe and mine, and it doesn't feel like I'm in your world or you're in my world, and it doesn't feel awkward. And as soon as he played that beat, I was like, yo, this is perfect for both of us.

And he told me to sing Sorry on it. So I took it, you know, I flew out, went to L.A., and just sent it back. And he was like, yo, you did it really good.

That was my first demo of it. I never changed it once I did it the first time. We like this.

And then afterwards I put harmonies at the end, but I mean I just went with his you know direction How much of the lyrics reflected real life? Oh our verses are to our dead ass to fuck serious And you went oh so crazy about the verses. He was working on his verse for a long time and couldn't really, like, he couldn't really get it. You know, like, he kept on saying, I'm working on it, but it's not coming, or, you know, I'm not feeling it. And then one day he hit me and he was like, you know what, I feel like our verses should be about each other, right?

I was like, duh. Of course. Well, we did see you in the 88 Benz, and that was very nice. So you guys were cruising around.

You shared a little bit of that. Oh, another Nas idea. He just hit me out of nowhere one day and was like, yo, I want to do some pictures, and I want to do it with this old car that I have.

And, you know, I'm picking up the car today, and I want you to come with me to pick up the car. So he told me the vibe of how to dress, and I just had people drop me off some clothes and popped up looking like like a bad bitch. He was like, he was, you know what I'm saying, sweating the kid and I was like, what's good, daddy? You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying?

He was like, he was like, yo, Nick, you look like the rich drug dealer girlfriend, but the drug dealer girlfriend that got her own bag. Queens. Queens in the building. Yeah. Is it a hard adjustment for you that now your personal life is garnering so much attention?

And do you worry that it kind of may overshadow the art or just be so linked with the art at this point? They do that because they know we're live on Saturday, you see? Yeah, that was private and now like since the situation's been up and down. Well, I remember in the beginning, you guys, I never spoke about my personal life at all. Like, niggas thought that was my gay best friend.

And, you know... And not in a negative way, but it's just like I kept my private life private and it's because of that. Because I wanted people to only talk to me about my music and my craft.

And now, and then after the whole like dating in public and stuff, like I don't want to ever do that again really, to be honest. Like it's so annoying. That's how you feel?

Alright, but let's get back to the music though. Like, I do notice like from, you mentioned the Sorry record, which unfortunately didn't get cleared, but now you look at the outro with Foxy and especially the intro, which I know is one of your favorites, the ganja burn. Like, this sort of like, you know, obviously being a trendy girl, that heavy Caribbean vibe, I think that surprised a lot of people how much sonically you went back to that sort of sound, right? I'm so glad you noticed that, because a lot of people, no one's mentioned that to me before.

But, right, it's very, very Caribbean-based, you know, and, yeah. I don't know like and even when I sent Eminem Majesty I had that reggae break at the end of Majesty and I thought he was gonna be like nah I ain't really fucking with the outro I just wanted to see I'm like let me see if he gonna say you know something about it and he just he ain't say shit he was like we good so I was happy to know that you know he could appreciate my culture and because I don't it's weird like I feel even though I moved to this country at a young age I always feel like an island girl. I never feel like an American girl.

Island girl down in Toronto, let me go home. Yeah, I always feel like that. So it was a blessing that certain things just happened, like the ending, the second section of Barbie Dreams.

I had that. That's... That was Roman for sure. That was Roman for sure. But I had that for a few years just sitting in a tuck.

And that just happened. Yes, I did. Yep.

And who gonna check me? I didn't put it on the pin print. But, and then the majesty thing, I had majesty done before M.

God won it. And then Labrim sent the files. And we were in the studio, and I don't know, I just heard that break at the end.

I don't know how or, like, how that turned, but it just inspired me to do a whole new flow. So I said, Juice, pull that up. And then I just put, like, a shout out to my baby Juice.

But I just pulled it up. And you know what else, too? I wanna like on the documentary and I don't know exactly when the documentary is coming I don't know exactly when it's coming probably in a couple weeks but like but I want to play you guys what the songs sound like the first moment I touched it versus now cause you'd be surprised it sounds exactly the same just with no words like how with Chun-Li yeah I just was like uh uh uh uh uh uh but it be the same fucking flow the first time I be the first time I do it you have to nail the flow first before the words come yeah Speaking of words, though, what I also find interesting about Ganja Burn, like it being the intro and having such as that smooth pop and groove, it almost kind of, at first when I listened to it, I didn't catch how aggressive that first verse is, though. Like the first verse, and the second, like the first in particular, like, do you like that juxtaposition?

Like, because it seemed like, like, here's this smooth kind of party groove, but at the end of the day, you're like, they don't want to witch doctors to bury the Barbie, but I double back, kill bitches, bury the body. And I go for anybody thoroughly, sorry, I can wage war. coming in peace like Gandhi. Why was it like it's almost like a manifesto? Like to me, it felt like a manifesto of what you've been going through, like since we last had an album from you.

I love the way you describe everything, Elliot. I love that you do your homework. You're always, yeah, shout out to you for that.

But it does feel like that. I mean, this is the thing, what happened with Ganja Burn. As soon as I heard the beat, I...

I started smoking. Which is new for you, right? That's new for you, right?

Yeah, it's very new. I just started smoking weed like a year and a half ago, right? So I took a couple pulls. And as soon as I took a couple pulls, I just got really inspired by that beat. I had just heard the beat for the very first time in my life.

And five minutes later, I walked in the booth and laid the Gunja Burn part. Right? That part? But what came to my head first to say was Every time I get high, I just think about you. So now, cut to afterwards when I write the raps and they're hard.

I didn't want to change that. Now, the old me would have changed it to go with it's a hard rap. But the new me is so comfortable in my creative choices. I was like, no, fuck that.

That's what I felt. That's really what I felt on the chorus the first moment I heard it. So I'm going to just. And you know what I realized?

I said, wow, people, human beings, we're like that. that we might be having a raw as fuck conversation. We might be angry.

But in the middle of this somewhere, there's still vulnerability, there's still pain, there's still love. So I was like, I don't have to change it. If this is what the beat says to me, then it'll speak to other people that way too. I just left it.

It seems like often, you know, you talk about how you pride yourself about that everything comes from your pen and you write all your lyrics. It seems like very often, you know, you as much of an MC, a lot of your... Wait, hold on you guys, hold on, hold on.

A lot of your content is about almost like you asserting your strength. Why do you think that that seems to be such a staple in your approach in song making? I just feel like when I started rapping, everyone was a battle rapper. So to me, rap has gotten so soft now.

Like, it's like everybody's so sensitive and everybody looks for every little line. Are you talking about me? Eh, eh, eh, eh. You know, it's like, it's like my nigga, it's rap.

It's rap. This is not opera. This is rap.

So sometimes you're gonna hear some shit that, I listen to records that I put out five years ago, Three years ago, two years ago. and if I was to put it out right now you would think I'm talking about somebody right now because that's just how New Yorkers rap like I don't I remember I asked I remember I had a conversation with Meek about that one time when we were together and he said he was like you know what niggas that don't fuck with me when they hear my raps they get more offended because my raps always sound like I'm talking to a nigga like like I'm gonna take his bitch. But you don't, but you won't hear niggas, you won't hear people saying about, saying nothing about men when they rap aggressive.

You know what I'm saying? But for me, it's a double standard. I'm a rapper.

I love rapping. I love my, I love the culture. of rap.

And I don't think I need to be politically correct all the time. You should assert yourself in rap. You should say you that bitch or you that nigga.

Let me tell you something. When Lil Wayne came to New York and had the audacity to say on New York radio he's the greatest rapper of all time and he's better than Jay-Z, niggas wanted to slap the fuck out of him. But he said what he fucking said. He said what the fuck like he said.

And you know what ended up happening after that? After he claimed that over himself? Manifested it, yeah.

Yes. How do you deal with that? Because it seemed like for a time, you got to the point where you were so dominant. and especially in the female rapper space, and you'd win all the awards, and it was almost like you almost, to me, almost started to get embarrassed because it was like, you know, there wasn't as much competition. Now it seems like it's way more competitive, you know?

You have people out there. When you say, is Queen a statement of, in your mind, like, defending your position? I think people look at, people use that word competition loosely.

Okay. I will say this, I will say this, people use the word competition loosely. And sometimes I don't know what people mean when they say that. And also, I think it's insulting to say I didn't have competition all these years ago because there's always been competition. been great female rappers in the industry and it's not right to say that okay yeah but do you embrace that or do you feel like it's it's important for you to assert that you have the top position like what statement is there i can't not have the top position No, I'm not trying to be funny.

That's like, I'm not trying to be funny. That's really like you, that's, hold on, hold on, hold on. That's really like you bringing Jordan here right now and asking him, does he have the top position?

That's really like you bringing Jay here right now and asking him does he have the top position. Yeah, no, no, I said you're one of the all-time greats. The work that a person puts in doesn't erase.

My legacy can never be undone. You said my legacy can never be undone. My legacy can never be undone. I'm a prodigy or I be done done. Got these bitches, they shot the sun.

I'm the Billy Billy goat, the goat, the goat. Vintage Hermes by Jean Paul Gaultier. Lagerfeld customized my goat. I run the...

You bitches just won't cheer. I run the Macadam, I run the Macadam. And you got the goat. Put my crown on again and I'ma knock it off. Anything that...

My plugs drop it off. Tell them chop it off. My God.

All right, all right, all right, all right. Do you feel like some of that... No, no, let me say this.

Hold on. See, no, no. Let me say something.

Hold on, you guys, sometimes, like, when I say things, it's not in a nasty or a cocky way. And every time, when I say, whenever I say things, it comes across like it's being in a cocky way. Would you ask Jordan, does he have the top, like, Jordan left, came back wearing a 4'5", and you still could not ask Jordan if he had the top spot. There's nothing that anyone can do even up to this point where they ain't gonna be compared to Jordan my nigga Like that's period like you will never ever not get compared to Jordan but isn't it this but isn't it similar to a certain sense in the male field where fellow YMCB, Drake's accomplishments are beyond a lot of the landscape. But the same thing where it's like because somebody's been that successful, they're almost always fighting for that idea that they're the hottest right now. I don't fight for that. If I was fighting for that, I would have been dropping a record every year. I'd be dropping a record. I'd be dropping an album every couple months. I don't think people understand I can't do that. So do you? I can't. No, seriously. I can't do that. The reason I don't do... The reason that I... Let me tell you. The reason why I don't do that... And the reason why I can come off of the internet for months and chill is because I'm not intimidated. I know who I am. I know who I am. I know my capabilities. Therefore... And therefore, it's like, I don't have to fiend out and rush and thirst. And, you know, sometimes, you know, if I want to take a cut, you know, if I want to take two years off, I'm going to take two years off and chill. Like, I'm not, it is, nothing changes. Nothing changes. Nothing changes. Let's get back to the album. One of the most popular songs also shows you your versatility is when you get into that bag where, you know, Nikki's going to always have that track that things get a little emotional. And it's Come and See Me for once. Come See About Me. Let's come see about me. I'm sorry. You said that that record, like, you cry when you hear that record. Like, what was it like making that record, and why is that record such an important piece to the album? Well, because I think it's like, you know, when you're a female and you come across as a strong woman, people forget that you kind of need to be loved too. And sometimes you even forget that you need to be loved because you're so used to, like, you know, being that bossy woman. But you do. And shout out to all my women in here tonight. Don't Don't get so bossy that you forget that you deserve love. You know? Absolutely, absolutely. You deserve somebody to make you feel like they adore you. And the Come See About Me track, it was me thinking of, I don't know if I should say who I, you know. I'll just have some water real quick. No one's watching, Nick. No one's watching. No worries. I was thinking about the same person when I wrote the hook on Ganja Burn. And then... Anyway, so what I was feeling was like, damn, you know, I cut this person out of my life completely, but I wonder, does he, you know, does he think about me? Like, would he ever check on me? And then when they do check on me, I'm a bitch, you know? So it's so weird. Like, I'm such a fucking, ugh. I'm a walking contradiction when it comes to love. Like, it takes such a long time to break me down again. Because I feel like, especially with that particular one I'm talking about, I feel like I just, I went, I feel like I went in head first. and I never looked back. And so I was really, really hurt behind that. And the other thing is, people expect you to be able to just get up and write an album or record, and it's like, what the... had nothing to say. I had nothing to give. I was so broken as a human being and I didn't know who I was anymore. You know, I was, I was lost like spiritually. I had to spiritually find myself again. Emotionally, I had to connect again. I think that sometimes when we're in relationships, we make that person God and that person is not God. Okay. You have to learn. You have to learn that you will be just fine. without them. And when you have that confidence and that strength and that security, you bring so much more to the table, you know? And whenever a person wants you to be clingy or insecure, some... something ain't right. That means they want you at your lowest self. Right. They know that's a way to manipulate you. They know that's a way to, you know, just keep you where you at. And I have to say, in my experience, experience, I've experienced men who are intimidated by a woman who's more successful than them and try to bring me down. I've been in situations where, you know, people tell me horrible things about myself all the time, hoping that I won't be confident and hoping that maybe if she's not confident, maybe she won't post sexy pictures and I can, you know, niggas won't look at my girl, You know, but when you got with with Nicki Minaj, you knew this is... You know, I always... I think about, like, Janet Jackson. Like, Janet Jackson, when you go... When she's performing, she's still gonna give you sexy Janet. Like, whether it's Janet or Madonna, these are icons of our time. They're not gonna put on a long kilt or, you know, you know what I'm saying? Like, a fucking apron or... I don't know. Like, they're gonna wear bonded shit and sexy shit and they're gonna be who they feel like being like regardless if they're in a relationship or not so I can't change that if you're not secure enough with me being a sex symbol then don't be with me at the same time I believe in making your man feel like a king I believe in being submissive to a man to a certain degree I really do and I know people would never believe that but I do believe in that I think your man should feel like I don't think that you should step on your man's toes. And even though I'm a lot to handle, I fall back in my relationship, you know, because I don't want to make a man feel belittled. As you get a little bit older, you realize that that's the worst thing to do to a man. A man needs to feel like, yeah. And when he doesn't feel like that, he finds someone that will make him feel like that. You know, so I'm careful with it, but I'm also careful not to. rush into anything anymore where people are just very insecure. Speaking of playing into, I think it was great to see that they didn't show insecurity and most of the people took it with a great reaction was the Barbie Dreams record, right? Where you go in and you playfully take control in that situation. What made you go that direction with that record? Do you remember what inspired that idea? Like, I'm really going to do this and I'm just going to go in? You wouldn't know it was so crazy. when I was like when I was was dating someone I was I started I started to write Bobby Dreams and I and I stopped because I was with him like I had so much respect for him I was like I asked him I said would you feel funny if I you know and he gets it he knows the record of course but he gave me two answers a boyfriend answer and a rapper answer. And because of that, the album was about to come out. Like, if me and him didn't break up, we wouldn't have had Barbie dreams on Queen. Because I had that much respect for the man I was with, you know? So I will say everything happens for a reason. Because I'm very happy that I did it. Because at the same time, it is my art. It's a tribute to rap, hip-hop culture, Biggie. And, you know, like, I was with Flex last night. And the way he reacted to that song, I was just like, this is why I did Bobby Dreams. You know? Yeah, because you talk about Chen Li. Like, a lot of negative stuff was drawing your way. And people started a little bit of a backlash, bad person. A lot of people were saying, like, well, Nikki would have just. just drew that record out, that would have changed the way a lot of people were talking leading into the album. Yeah, but I purposely did it that way. Chun-Li set the tone because I wanted to let people see I am fully aware of what y'all say about me, number one, and I don't give a fuck. So once I established that, then it was time to play. I don't think that in an era called Queen, I need to drop my first record talking about fucking and sucking. I believe that when you can digest the entire body of work and you can hear things like Anja Byrne and Nip Tuck, then you can hear Bobby Dreams. Because don't forget, I get held to a higher standard. Because God forbid I say the word. pussy and dick because you know goth you know male rappers don't talk about fucking and sucking and eating and you know what i mean only nikki minaj talks about sex so i felt it was my responsibility to not put something that was that one she out first because they just always on my And even Flex said that last night, and I was telling him that Jay-Z told me the same thing. He was like, you're held to a higher standard. Everybody gets, everyone gets judged less than me. All pretend bars. They're less than you. My fans be having bars. That was a fucking bar. Wow. How did the Barb thing, and you're looking back on it like, why is this, we've seen other fan movements, but this obviously seems very strong and very special and very consistent. Almost to the point that sometimes they step out of control. And now, do you bear any responsibility when they do that, in your viewpoint? Well, when I first, when my fans and I first started interacting on Twitter, I used to tell them, do not drag people. I used to unfollow them if they dragged people and if they were mean to people. however it's but so much my fans can take. It's like, if you fuck with somebody and you keep on seeing people lying on them and hurting them and not giving them their props, you would be mad too. And my fan base is not like a fan base. We like family. I always say that. I always say that. So, so, I find it odd that motherfuckers want to be able to say the most horrific things about me, but when my fans get in that ass, they want to play victim. But when everybody everyone's attacking me, I'm just supposed to stay there and take it. I'm not allowed to defend myself because, oh, you're too big to defend yourself, but you just said I was a nobody. So which one is it? You know, they love to rip me apart, and when I say some shit, now I can say some shit. I can say some shit. You'd be surprised. You've said some shit the last couple days. I'm gonna let you know, every time I say some shit, that's a fraction of what I could say. Right. And I noticed that as soon as people can talk about me for years and years, they can bash me. They can try to tarnish my image, my legacy. I'm not allowed to speak. I'm not allowed to stand up for myself. So when I was gone, I wasn't online. And when I came back and saw that my fans had been making the fucking covers of blogs and magazines and newspapers, I cracked up fucking laughing because I was like, you know what? Oh, well, that's what the fuck y'all get. Leave me to fuck Fuck alone. Shut the fuck up. My fans be minding their own business. My fans will really mind their business if y'all will leave me the fuck alone. We're happy you're back. And I think that's the problem. They want to be able to tear me down. Let's not act like, you know, there hasn't been a calculated push by many people in the industry to end my career in the last year and a half. You know, they've done so much. And every time when they see this little... Yeah. When they see this little ting here, back up and kicking, they be like, yo, what the fuck is it gonna take to get rid of this bitch? You can't get rid of me, bitch! I'm not going nowhere! I'm not going no fucking where! What is it? What is it? What we see, what we see, it's funny you say that, I mean you know hip hop history, we've seen all this, the kind of run that you've had. You know at a certain point the music doesn't drive them the same way. They look to other ventures. Can I ask you something, Elliot? Yeah. What female rapper? Well, forget female rapper. Because I don't want to say, because all the female rappers have opened the, paved the way for me. In general, who's out right right now? You probably could name five or less. right that is on their fourth album with three four records on hot the hot 100 right now at this moment on their fourth album next week uh from barbie dreams to fifi to big bank to bed next week well obviously it'll be a lot more because my album came out right but but look think about that so when i say people coming for my success i really feel bad for all the other artists who are trying to do their thing. Artists who haven't put out an album in a long time. They see niggas dissing me and being like, uh, uh-uh. But meanwhile, they don't even, there's some artists that don't have a song on the Hot 100 right now. So how you think y'all making them feel? You know what I'm saying? I see singers, they putting out videos, they doing their thing. They want, they're making their comeback, they're incredibly talented, they have a fan base. But y'all act, but people are sitting here dissing me when I have four fucking songs on the Hot 100. And an album that's number one in 85 countries. How does that make sense? So when you diss my success, you're dissing so many other people, so many other artists who don't even have one record on the Hot 100 right now. You know what I mean? You see what I'm saying? How do you balance it out? Because that's one thing you have done in the hiatus. You've been very active with guest features. And like you said, now look at Fifi. That record, it's almost like you're competing with yourself. How does that feel when you're on a record and you're also competing against your singles? Right. Well, I try not to have the same... sonically I try to always keep them different. So, like, if you notice, Bed and Fifi are completely different. Big Bank is more of a West Coast sounding record. They're very different. I always try to make sure. Like, I wouldn't put out a record right now on my album that sounded like Fifi. Yeah. You know? Or if it's a pop record, which there are a couple records that are about to come out, you know, with a different sound. I wouldn't put out a record that sounds like that myself. I would let the artist, the artist who's featuring me, shine in that. space but they do know that obviously if you if you put me on your song even though even though it even though it leads to great things because if you put me on your song it's streamed I think 600 times more or something like that it's like a dope statistic but they also run the risk with if I have a lot of songs that radio at that moment you know getting the short end of the stick but they take that chance you know because we I bring I always push myself on people's songs, you know. I still get paid to do features. I don't think you heard me. I'm not telling y'all how much I get paid. Y'all so nosy. But I'm saying, for that alone, like, that's a blessing. Sometimes I'll be forgetting to thank God for those tiny little things that I take for granted. Like, do you know what it is to get paid for a verse? Like, that's something that we have to be grateful for. That is an artist and a label's way of saying, we appreciate what you do. We appreciate what you bring to records. We think that you put your heart and soul into it. Right now, there's some female singers that, you know, I wouldn't normally get on their song, but I took a step back. And one singer told me this label recently dropped her. And it really hurt me. And I was just like, I listened to this girl's record, and she's super talented. And I listened to other people they have on. their label and I'm just like yikes it's really all a popularity contest labels do not care about talent anymore it's about your popularity so the music industry has changed drastically because of that so when I was growing up, I would put on the radio and hear talented people. When you guys put on the radio now, you hear popular people. Right? And that's the difference. So you got to hold on and treasure the ones that are still here, not because of popularity alone. And I would be silly to say that I'm not here because of, you know, popularity partially, right? Because my fans are such a powerful force. Like, you know, they'll get something trending. You know, I got Queen Radio now. in life Like, we had, oh, my God, that's so dope. But at the same time, I never have ever relied on that just by itself. I never relied. That reminds me to think when people first saw you with 6ix9ine, they probably thought that could be something like that, that he's popular, you're trying to connect to his way, blah, blah, blah. But then getting to know him and seeing how talented he is, and the story behind it, you said you had heard him cut a demo of that record or heard a raw version of it. He posted it. So you recognized it as a potential hit. Absolutely. That's why you jumped on it. Well, absolutely. And that's the other thing people don't notice. You have to. have to have an air you know to know what to get on right so i had to know big bank and fifi were gonna do well big bank is about to be number 15 or 16 on the hot 100 right shout out to yg um yeah like so my thing is If I... I saw him put it on his Instagram, right? I followed him on Instagram. Because, of course, anybody wearing colorful hair is gonna spark my interest, you know? It's so funny, it's so cute. 6ix9ine thought he reinvented... Multi-colored hair. So when I pulled out like my pictures from the Mac, when I had like the rainbow... I had to send him like three pictures with me wearing multi-colored hair and be like, nigga, what? Cause he was like, yeah, why you... you trying to jump on my swag, you know what I'm saying? All that. I was like, relax. Now, I didn't even want to do colorful hair in his video because I didn't want to take his little shit on. So I left him, I let him rock, you know. But after the video, I sent him pictures with me. with me wearing colorful hair. So he could know, colorful hair don't care. That's why I said that, right? But I heard it, and the reason why it drew my interest is not because I thought 6ix9ine was popular. It was because it reminded me of Slumber Party with Gucci Mane. And whenever I hear somebody that's doing something that reminds me of my flow, I want to, you know what I'm saying, pay attention. I'm like, what's good? So His thing is, you know, Summer Party has got that super soaker, pussy pop like Coca-Cola, plus it's tighter than that. Got her smiling like the Joker. Got that da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na little... Okay, and then how does Fifi go? Fifi. So I was like, oh, okay. So I like the beat. I fuck with Murda. You know, Murda's beats is always hard as fuck. So I followed him. I didn't know he was going to hit. hit me and ask me to get on a record. I don't go and ask people to get on a song. What the fuck? Like, they ask me and I'm honored that he asked me. And I'm not gonna shit on him. I'm not gonna be on the bandwagon and laugh and diss him and act like I don't think he's talented and I think he's very genuine and very dope. What was it like shooting that video? Getting down with the ice cream and all that? He was scared. He was so nervous. I had to say, I had to literally shake him. He was just like, you know, and we were sitting in, the first shot we shot was in the thing, in that little tub type of thing with the balloons or whatever. And I think he was scared to come too close to me or touch me. So I said, my nigga, you be having all this mouth on the phone. What's good? Like, you know? So I had to rough him up a little bit. Made him change his clothes. that. I heard too. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You were changing him close. He was changing him close. But I think that, I think he liked being pushed. True creatives true creatives love being pushed. Like I love being challenged too. Like if a person tells me like even, he didn't think I was gonna do three looks. He didn't even think I was gonna do two looks. You should have seen the look on his face. He was like just expecting me to hurry up and leave and just be like alright I did my part. But instead I was like no let's do it. You got all these dope sets here. I want to have fun. I want to play. I like playing dress up. So when I said, when I said after I shot the first thing, I said, why don't you change? I'm going to change. He was like, you're going to, you're going to stay? You're going to shoot? Yes. Change. Go ahead. Let's do this. You know, because I love what I do. I love my job, you know? And he had a very humble spirit. You know, it's a great thing to work with people who are humble, you know, who make you feel appreciated, you know? Even though, yes, he's hot, he's... hilarious. He trolls. People love him. He trolls. But when it came to me, he showed me so much love and respect and for that, I will always fuck with him. And you're bringing him on tour. Why did you decide to pair with Future for this tour? Future has always been someone who I consider a real friend. Now in this industry you have friends and then you have friends. and he's one of my friends you know he's someone who I've never dated I've never been did anything romantic with nothing but when I sit down in a room with him he and I can talk for hours he talks to me like how he would talk to a guy like we talk about the industry we talk about business moves and so when some things didn't work out how I wanted it to with the tour I thought about future because Because Future has so many hits that it's like, to me, even if Future ain't put out a hot... album two weeks ago, he got so many fucking hits. Catalog, yeah. Yes, his catalog is exceptional to be a rapper, you know, from Atlanta. So I was like, you know what, let me see if Future will want to do it. And he immediately said, I would love to do it, you know. So I was like, okay, perfect. I feel like he was one of those people who treated me the same way. When everybody turned their back on me, he treated me the same fucking way. He never switched up on me. I mean, not to go back to be negative, but... How did you overcome that? Do you feel like the ties turning and whatever backlash existed is going away? Did you shut a lot of people up, you think, with this album? Yeah. Did it go back in a way? And is it important for you to be viewed as more popular? What does that mean for your career at this point? I don't want to be viewed as more popular. I want to be viewed as skillful. Yeah. I don't know why people get me misconstrued. I don't care about all that other stuff. The word of the day is skill. Skill. The word of the day is skill. Thank you, baby. I want people, let me tell you what made me so happy was that people listened to this album and said it's her best album lyrically. And that's the best compliment a person could ask for. I spent all this time working so hard. And like that means something to me. I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't matter. It matters. That's what we do this shit for. You know what I'm saying? So I'm talking about all of the greats, all of the people I look up to. up to told me that I impressed them with this album. Do you know how good that feels? It's funny because I think that that's the path you're on now, too, is that you want that uncertified greatness. Like, you talk to Jay, you work with Em, you know, you still are under the tutelage of Wayne. It's like it's important for you to, like, be part of that bigger entity, like that you're recognized amongst those greats when it's all said and done. Listen, Pink Friday, Eminem, Kanye West. And prior to Pink Friday, I was already on a record with Jay and Kanye. So you tell me, you tell me, what new artist gets co-signed by Jay, Kanye, Eminem, and Wayne? What would be the equivalent to that now? To me it's still the same. They still the ones you gotta see, right? You still gotta check in. My thing is, that's never happened before or since. Has it? No. So I'm very proud of that. That people could have treated me just like someone with, you know, some random New York girl with a big butt and, you know, whatever. They never have. All of them. treat me like a lyricist. And when I talk to them behind the scenes, I got so many messages from so many people like, yo, you outdid yourself. I'm proud of you. And that's why I do this. Not for fucking popularity. I have popularity. I could stop doing this right now and still be talked about every fucking day. I can do dumbass shit and be in the news every day. Instead, I go to the studio and push my pen. That's what I want to do. What's your best verse on Queen? I swear to God I was about to say LLC, but I don't know if you heard the story I said about LLC that Jay complimented my third verse. My third one. Now I love the first one. You loved the first one because he didn't compliment my first one, so I rewrote the first one. So that's why the first one is now the best one. Because he said he liked other songs, but on this song, he made it his business to own it. only compliment one verse out of the song. So I know he's a smart person, and I know that was probably his way of saying, mm, you could have came harder on them other two. So I didn't even ask him. I just put it in my little, you know what I'm saying? And when he left, I was like, yo, Juice, pull up LLC. Like, we getting that shit over, nigga. Keep it rolling, Juice. Yeah. And Nikki, congratulations again on the album, and thank you for doing this. Thank you. Make some noise for Elliot, y'all. Yeah, Nikki Minaj.

Transcript for:Crown Interview Highlights with Nicki Minaj

Transcript for:
Crown Interview Highlights with Nicki Minaj