Nicki Minaj rings in the new year on the cover of Rolling Stone. In the skin-baring shoot by famed photographer Terry Richardson, the busty rapper gets wet and flaunts her famous assets in just a white tank top.
In the candid interview, the “mad genius” speaks out about her breakup with longtime boyfriend Safaree Samuels, the police violence against unarmed black men including Mike Brown and Eric Garner, and her sympathy for Kanye West.
“I feel like when Public Enemy were doing ‘Fight the Power,’ we as a culture had more power—now it feels hopeless. People say, ‘Why aren’t black celebrities speaking out more?’ But look what happened to Kanye when he spoke out. People told him to apologize to Bush!”
She also reflects on her teen pregnancy and abortion, which she raps about on The Pinkprint opening track “All Things Go.” The decision, she says, has “haunted me all my life.”
The issue hits newsstands on Friday, January 2. Read highlights from the revealing interview below.
On opening up about her personal life: “One of my goals was to give people a glimpse into my personal life, because it’s something I’ve kept very private. I had to learn to do something as simple as sleep alone. I struggled with ‘Do I express these feelings?’ And I decided there’s no reason for me to hide. I’m a vulnerable woman, and I’m proud of that.”
On “Anaconda”: “With a video like ‘Anaconda,’ I’m a grown-ass fucking woman! I stand for girls wanting to be sexy and dance, but also having a strong sense of themselves. If you got a big ol’ butt? Shake it! Who cares? That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be graduating from college.”
On her decision to have an abortion: “I thought I was going to die. I was a teenager. It was the hardest thing I’d ever gone through. It’d be contradictory if I said I wasn’t pro-choice. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have anything to offer a child.”
On honing her craft: “I hate when artists brag about not writing rhymes, or doing things really quickly, and then it’s not great. It’s ill when Jay Z or Wayne say it, because the results are great. When they’re not? Sit your ass down and figure out something new to say!”
On the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner: “It’s sickening, and I’ve been reading so many people saying, ‘Why are we surprised?’ That’s what’s really sad: that we should somehow be used to being treated like animals. It’s gotten to the point where people feel like there’s no accountability: If you are law enforcement and you do something to a black person, you can get away with it.”
On Kanye West: “He was the unofficial spokesman for hip-hop, and he got torn apart. And now you haven’t heard him speaking about these last couple things, and it’s sad. Because how many times can you be made to feel horrible for caring about your people before you say, ‘Fuck it, it’s not worth it, let me live my life because I’m rich, and why should I give a fuck?’”
