On Her Appeal to Younger Listeners:
“I think as far as the younger demo is concerned, I play dress-up,” Minaj says. “I also can put on a very cartoonish voice. So sometimes children may not know what I’m saying, but they like the sound of it, and they think I sound like some weird character.”
On Her Hair:
“I was doing every- and anything to it—putting in wads of gel and brushing it to the next century, and just thinking I was so cute,” she says. “I always thought I had an eye for that stuff.” She also had a philosophy: Hair allowed you to reinvent yourself, which was perhaps particularly critical to a little girl with big dreams and a troubled reality. “I had done something I thought was really, really, really cute, and I showed my neighbor,” she says. “She was like, ‘Why’d you do that to your hair?’ And I never forget what I said: ‘I’m someone new in this hair.’ “
On Plans for World Domination:
“I never thought about music as just being the end-all, be-all. I always looked at it like a business, something that I could create an empire out of. So that’s why I’m only about to put out my second album and I’m already thinking about this,” says Minaj. “I had a little conversation with Jay-Z at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. He said, ‘Congratulations on all your success.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m coming for you. I’m coming for your spot, Mr. Mogul.’”
On Exercising:
“I’m naturally petite, but I definitely struggle with keeping those extra pounds off. And I hate working out. I can’t stand being on a treadmill. That mentally irks me. When I need to lose a few, I just cut out sugar and starch.”
