Words Jane Fitzgerald
Outside London’s Landmark hotel, there’s a huddle of shivering teenage girls. It’s 6pm, dark and, this being January, temperatures are down to single figures. But despite the biting weather, the girls smile and bear it in the hope that they might soon catch a glimpse of their newest obsession. These die-hards aren’t waiting for Justin Bieber, or even a boyband. No, these girls are here for Nicki Minaj.
Right now, Nicki Minaj is hot. Red hot. She’s got a platinum-selling debut album (Pink Friday), her own MTV doc (aptly called My Time Now), she’s broken chart records, shared the stage with Jay-Z and Kanye at Yankee Stadium, while Mariah, will.i.am, Rihanna and Christina Aguilera have her on speed dial for when they need guest vocals. Billboard, V and Vibe magazines put her on their covers, and Saturday Night Live had her skitting. The quick-fire rapper from Queens, New York, has transcended perhaps even her own expectations of success and recognition.
And so far, we’ve not been able to avert our eyes as Minaj has evolved from uptown ghetto chick into neon-Barbie superstar, buoyed by a worldwide army of fans who speak to her in code via Twitter. Er, hold up a second and rewind. Yes, you read that right. Nicki Minaj is a credible MC, loaded up with props from the greater hip hop community, who teeters on comedy platform heels, plays with cartoon wigs and is worshipped by teenage girls. It’s an unusual position, for sure. But one Minaj has comfortably created for herself.
Although she comes as the complete package, Minaj is no pre-made marketing sensation. Rather, her skyward trajectory is just the current stage in a career founded on talent and luck, not auditions or TV talent shows. A graduate of NYC’s Fiorello H LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Minaj put out her own mixtapes and DVDs from 2003, before being spotted on MySpace by Dirty Money boss Fendi. He alerted Lil Wayne, who eventually signed her to his Young Money label in 2009. You can track Minaj’s progression and it’s real – something she is understandably proud of when ARISE meets her in London.
“Authenticity is the most important thing,” she says. “Because when someone creates you, you’re nothing without them. They leave the picture; you’re gone as well. I’ve changed the people around me several times and my brand continues to grow bigger and bigger. I think that’s because I make decisions that I can live with. Whatever I wear, whatever my hair’s like, whatever song I do, it’s from me. It’s not cos someone told me to do it, or said, ‘I think this will help your career’. If I don’t think it makes sense then I’m not gonna do it.”
The full story appears in Issue 12.