Rapper Nicki Minaj sat down with HITS Daily Double for their series of Q&As with this year’s Grammy-nominated artists. Minaj was nominated for three awards, including Best Rap Album. The conversation touched upon the long road to fame, Adele, Drake, the making of The Pinkprint, and more. Excerpts from the interview are below.
Q. In every category you’re nominated you are the sole female against an ocean of men. Respect. What would winning the Grammy Award mean to you personally?
A. Thank you. Winning a Grammy would inspire women to continue to rap and write and to never give up. I’ve put so many years into this culture that I often feel is overlooked. Prior to my three albums, I put out three mixtapes, which also changed the game for women in rap. I would literally sit in a room for days and write, and my sole purpose was to be better than the boys and to prove that women are just as smart, creative, witty, business-savvy, etc. I never really felt that male rappers saw us as their equals. I was determined to change that.
Q. What connects you to a song that makes you feel, “This one is special?”
A. I love feeling like a song is ripped out of a page in my diary. The intro to The Pinkprint feels like that to me: a song called “All Things Go.” It takes me away to a dark yet hopeful place—a secret place. Whenever I bare my soul on a song, I feel like it’s special. Those records don’t usually become singles, but they are the heart of the album. Songs like that and “I Lied,” “The Crying Game” and “Grand Piano.” If Adele were to sing “Grand Piano,” a lot more people would listen to it and be able to understand the significance of it. They’d really be able to understand the heartbreaking story that so many of us deal with in relationships.
Read the full interview here.
The Grammys will air on February 15, 2016 at 8 p.m.
