Despite efforts by her team to bill her as such, Nicki Minaj refuses to accept claims that she has become a Pop star.
Maybe realizing her commercial efforts are better placed when compared to that of Lil Kim‘s and not Rihanna‘s, Lia Nicholls of The Sun knows all to well how Nicki feels about her new LP ‘Roman Reloaded’ being labelled Pop.
Confused?
Peep how she reacts to the label below…
Lia Nicholls:
Two minutes into our interview and the US rapper’s language is as colourful as her day-glo outfits.
And the awkwardness makes my face turn as pink as the shirt I’ve worn in a naive attempt to impress her.
I’ve royally upset her by describing her US and UK No1 album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded as “pop”. So I stutter an explanation: “It was meant as a compliment… I have listened to it…. ”
But the 29-year-old New Yorker ain’t having it. She barks back: “You know what it is, I get tired of people making statements that go to the world and they will read what you write and what you’re saying isn’t true.
“The album is a versatile album with five dance tracks on it. The album has 19 songs and the majority of it is hip-hop. How can you give people a true account if you haven’t listened to it in its entirety?”
Aware the clock is ticking, I timidly change tack: “Let’s start again, shall we?”.
She snaps: “No! I want you to realise how annoying it is when people come to me having not heard my album in its entirety because, if you had, then you wouldn’t have said that.
“My new album has five dance tracks on it produced by RedOne, who I’m absolutely in love with. Prior to that, it has a very mix tape feel that people need to know about. With people like yourself printing things about the album, it’s really, really misleading to the average person.”
With a last-ditch attempt to try to salvage the situation, I promise: “OK, all that will be in the piece, I assure you.”
And just as I think her third tirade is about to come crashing down on me, Nicki simply turns around and says: “OK.”
Phew.
So that was the low point of the interview — documented as promised — then finally, with our allotted 20 minutes now down to 15, the interview begins.
Perhaps Nicki is unaware that the word ‘Pop’ is short for ‘Popular’, a word which we’d say describes her sound perfectly.
Clearly overreacting to what we saw as a compliment, it was pretty silly of Nicki to snap at Lia- especially when she is dependent on her Pop numbers to sell units. After all, it’s not as though ‘Beez In The Trap‘ is doing much on the charts is it?
Whether she likes it or not, she has become a Pop star who needs Pop music to sell her Pop album. Yes, while the bulk of ‘Reloaded’ is ‘Hip Hop’, it’s ‘Pound The Alarm‘ and not ‘Come On A Cone’ the world is hoping to see a video for.