As the most popular female rapper since... basically ever, Nicki Minaj faces more than her fair share of hurdles in the media. More often than not, she's portrayed as a "bitchy" or "bossy" individual who's liable to fly off the handle at any moment, and that's not even mentioning the unfair tightrope she's forced to walk between fans of her considerable lyrical talents and her more pop music-oriented supporters. This image of an immensely talented loudmouth who cashes out on "Starships" in favor of staying on the mixtape circuit is one egged on (if not created) by the media, and thusly she's faced uphill battles during interviews on numerous occasions. Luckily, she happens to be well-equipped for dealing with disrespect, and has a track record of some truly great comebacks.
This morning, we got the latest of those, which in effect cut the interview short. Here are Ms. Minaj's wittiest and most brutal put-downs in the face of leading questions, sexist remarks and bigoted "real rap" fans.
"Who has the biggest dick in the music industry?"
Women in music often face the unfair assumption that they sleep with male collaborators (see: Cyhi The Prynce unabashedly shaming Teyana Taylor for not banging anyone in G.O.O.D. Music on 'Elephant In The Room"), and although she was in a long-term relationship with a non-musician until very recently, Nicki's dealt with this prejudice too. Last year, E! host Andy Cohen asked Minaj who is the most well-endowed rapper in the game, seeming to suggest that she has seen a lot of dicks, and her response couldn't have been better:
"I have never seen anybody in the industry's penis, actually. I saw one penis for ten years. And that's all I'll say about that."
Watch below.
"What's going on between you and Mariah Carey?"
Back in 2013, there was a brief conflict between Minaj and Mariah Carey, set off by Carey alluding to the fact that she had more number one songs than Minaj. Once the gossip blogs began picking it up, Minaj went on a tirade on Twitter, calling Carey "insecure and bitter," and the next day, she was asked about it on the red carpet. here's what she said, on camera:
“That question didn’t even make sense, so if you want me to insinuate what you’re talking about, then I’m not going to. Let’s just have some straightforward–"
"Why do you feel like, as an MC, there's always a question mark next to Nicki Minaj?"
Starting with Peter Rosenberg publicly dissing "Starships" at Summer Jam, Nicki Minaj has always had a rocky relationship with Hot 97, whose on-air personalities often use her poppier material to write off her lyrical abilities. Ebro sat down with her during the Pinkprint release cycle, and after getting the (apparently super important) questions about her personal life out of the way, he asked her why she thought she was not given the credit she deserves. her response turned the magnifying glass on him, and couldn't have been more perfect.
"The game is run by men, people like yourself. It's almost like men feel like it takes something away from them to give a female props the way they would give Jay or Kanye or Em. Y'all know damn well that I get busy, but it's not them [points to crowd]. They give me props. My core fans give me my props. They know, they listen and they're so supportive, but it's y'all [points at Ebro]."
"You've transitioned from an artist to a brand. Not many people can say that they're a brand artist. Do you feel pressure now, being in the studio and knowing you're this huge icon?"
Just as she was starting to work on The Pinkprint, Minaj visited MTV to talk about the challenges she would face this time around. The interviewer tried to frame it as a popularity thing, calling Nicki a "brand" and all that, but she doubled down on her rap cred instead:
"I care less about the acceptance and more about me being the ill lyrical bitch that I am.Knowing that I am lyrically better than most of the male rappers out there-- yes, I'm gonna say that, I don't get the credit I deserve."
It wasn't exactly a tense moment between her and the interviewer, but it was clear that Minaj had shut down any questions about mass appeal that still plague her to this day.
"To a casual observer, who doesn't know anything, they would look at you and say, 'She dresses phantasmagorically, she reminds me of Lady Gaga.' Does that kind of comparison offend you?"
Early on in her career, Nicki went on Nightline and was met by an interviewer who tried to pigeonhole her into a category of female pop stars who dress outrageously. Nicki first makes the point that she is, first and foremost, a rapper, and Lady Gaga isn't, and then puts the interviewer on blast.
"Why don't I turn around the camera and ask you [why you think we're similar]."
Interviewer: "Just the wigs, and the--"
"Wigs? Every female in this game wears wigs"
"The over-the-top costuming."
"The over-the-top costumes? EHH-- try again."
Harsh, but effective!
"I'm gonna be artificially inseminated so I don't have to have sex with anyone."
In a hilarious parody of the sort of interview she often faces, Minaj "interviewed herself" for Elle a few years ago, and perfectly played the part of the ditzy interviewer overstepping her bounds. Putting on a faux-valley girl voice, Minaj breaks an awkward silence by saying to her actual self, "Nicki, you can add anything you like to make this fun for you, or like whatever. Like you can just blurt out random things--"
She then interrupts by saying, "I'm gonna be artificially inseminated so I don't have to have sex with anyone." It's the type of attention-grabbing quote that you know interviewers look for, and ends up being a spot-on send-up of her life as an interview subject.
"There's other things we want to talk about, like Nicki's love life. Is Nicki having sex?"
In a now-legendary interview with The Breakfast Club in 2012, Nicki becomes irate when she realizes that none of the hosts had listened to her new album or watched her new video. She criticizes their lack of preparedness and desire to only talk about gossip and her personal life, and when DJ Envy takes it too far, she curtly reiterates her stance:
"No, but I just shot a video for 'Freedom,' and you should go and watch it."
"We use a term here on 'The Wendy Show,' it's called 'sexually fluid,' which means however you're feeling is what you go with. Are you sexually fluid? Man, woman, you know?"
In an otherwise friendly interview with Wendy Williams, Minaj is asked about her sexuality, more specifically if she's not entirely straight. Her response doesn't look too harsh on paper, but it's the look she gives Williams that really puts this one over the top:
"[Grimaces] No, I'm not sexually fluid. I don't like the way that sounds. No, no thanks, I'll pass."
"If I turn up to a photo shoot and you got a $50 clothes budget and some sliced pickles on a motherfuckin’ board, you know what? No. I am gonna leave."
This wasn't technically an interview, but rather a video of Minaj berating a publication with whom she was supposed to do a photoshoot for being sadly unprepared. It's become infamous as the "pickle juice" rant, but later on, she does make some good points about how she's treated in these situations versus how Lil Wayne would be:
“When I am assertive, I’m a bitch. When a man is assertive, he’s a boss. He bossed up. No negative connotation behind ’bossed up.’ But lots of negative connotation behind being a bitch. Donald Trump can say, ’You’re fired.’ Let Martha Stewart run her company the same way and be the same way. ’Fucking old evil bitch!’ But Donald Trump, he gets to hang out with young bitches and have 50 different wives and just be cool. ’Oh, Donald, we love you, Donald Trump!’"
That part about Trump is especially relevant this year...
"Is there a part of you that thrives on drama?"
This last one came through this morning in the aforementioned New York Times Magazine piece, and is one of the cattier, more overstepping-of-bounds questions Minaj has ever fielded. Here's her great response:
"That’s disrespectful. Why would a grown-ass woman thrive off drama? What do the four men you just named have to do with me thriving off drama? Why would you even say that? That’s so peculiar. Four grown-ass men are having issues between themselves, and you’re asking me do I thrive off drama." It didn't stop there, "Women blame women for things that have nothing to do with them. I really want to know why — as a matter of fact, I don’t. Can we move on, do you have anything else to ask? To put down a woman for something that men do, as if they’re children and I’m responsible, has nothing to do with you asking stupid questions, because you know that’s not just a stupid question."
