It happens because over the years I’ve created this brand that people know. I don’t think people realise, but I don’t just call people and ask to get on their songs. I can be sent a pop song, a reggae song, a rap song or an R&B song, and people know that Nicki Minaj is gonna deliver something special every time. It’s forced me to have so much flexibility in my flow. I have to thank those artists, because I learn so much when I feature. Now, one of the reasons I was able to break that record is because so many artists have trusted me with their singles and their videos – they’ve trusted me with their image. He was the person everyone went to for a feature. Before I ever put out an album I prayed that God would give me Lil Wayne’s work ethic.
“With some of these things, I still feel like I’m in a dream. “I don’t feel like I’ve fully wrapped my mind around that,” Minaj reflects. The universe itself weighed in: those tracks – “No Frauds,” “Regret in Your Tears” and “Changed It” – earned her the distinction of being the woman with the most Billboard Hot 100 hits of all time, her 76 entries beating out Aretha Franklin’s former record of 73. In March, Minaj released three songs in response to a diss track by Bronx-based hip hop star Remy Ma. Comparisons can cause feuds, from both up-and-comers jockeying for status and past icons searching for new relevance. While male rappers are afforded the freedom to carve out their own niches within the genre, no female rapper can escape Nicki Minaj. Her position and prestige have rendered her both an idol and a target. And, at the time of our chat, Billboard reports that emerging star Cardi B has landed the first top-ten solo female rap song (“ Bodak Yellow”) since Minaj, underscoring the Queens rapper’s stature as the standard-bearer for female emcees. The New York Times called her the most influential female rapper of all time. She is the embodiment of millennial pink. It’s likely her career will span many decades, like Madonna’s or Cher’s.
Minaj will be as important to this decade as The Notorious B.I.G. She has, by any available metric, surpassed every other female hip hop artist to become the most successful in history. Since 2007, she has become not just globally famous, but one of music’s most iconic presences. One can imagine Minaj’s difficulty in escaping her own bigness. Even when it’s raining I go out on my balcony and all I can see is water and the sky, and I feel so small in relation to the world that I have no choice but to feel super-grateful. “I didn’t realise the water would have so much of an effect on me,” she reveals, “but it keeps me calm. Because of her recording schedule, Minaj often wakes up to sweeping night views of the Atlantic Ocean.