Nicki Minaj gives herself a much-deserved pat on the back for bringing a female presence back into hip-hop and rap culture.
She gave a telling interview to XXL and touched on the respect she received early on from industry heavy-hitters like Jay Z, Eminem and Kanye West. “My role in hip-hop has been super unique because when my first album came out, there had been so much time where there wasn’t a female rap album out that went platinum,” she explained. “There wasn’t a big female rap presence right before I got in. So, my role was really reintroducing the female rapper to pop culture.”
Nicki also delves into hip-hop’s influence on, well, everything. “I don’t think [female rappers] got that much credit. I think female rappers have always been dope and influential, but I think I sort of came in at a time where big business was paying attention, so I was able to capitalize off of a lot of deals and business ventures.”