Nicki Minaj graces the Cover of Complex Magazine in futuristic spread as she discusses her new album and Responds to “Anaconda Open Letter”



On what she had set out to accomplish with “Anaconda”:

I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual but be playful with it. And I wanted it to be so melodic that even if you don’t understand English you could still go along with the melody and you would have no idea about all the raunchy sh-t I’m saying—I get a kick out of that. It was simple to write. I just created the melody and then I let the words happen. I started laughing when I said, “Boy toy named Troy.” [Laughs.] That whole song, I was just being dumb. It was a joke. My biggest thing was seeing how my girlfriends Sherika and Thembi were going to react. If they don’t like a song, they’ll be like, “No.” As soon as they walked in the studio, we were laughing and having fun. I thought, if we’re doing this, then everybody is going to have fun with it.

On what she was aiming for with the backshot artwork for Anaconda

The artwork was not premeditated. I was shooting the “Anaconda” video and I had my photographer there taking pictures. When I was about to shoot my next scene, I asked to see the pictures he’d taken. He went through five or six and that one came up, and I was like, “[Gasps.] Oh my God. Yo, that picture is crazy!” What made me excited about it was that people hadn’t seen me do a picture like that in years. The reason why I stopped taking pictures like that was because I needed to prove myself. I needed for people to take me seriously. I needed for people to respect my craft. I’ve proven that I’m an MC. I’m a writer; I’m the real deal, so if I want to take sexy pictures, I can. I’m at the level in my career and in my life now where I can do whatever the hell I want to.

On her response to the father who wrote her an open letter after seeing the Anaconda single cover

“Shut your stupid ass up. Bye, dad.” I laughed at it. But I also didn’t even know that that was happening.

Do you not care? Or are you pretending not to care?

I don’t care. I used to care, now I don’t care.

On What made her stop caring about what was said about her on blogs and in the media

The only thing I ever cared about was people questioning [my rapping], because I know that I’m as authentic as they come when it comes to being a freaking MC. My first year in the game, I actually lost sleep over rumors, and then I realized, “What? This is entertainment.” These people will write anything about you to get attention and when you’re successful and famous, they know that when they say your name, people are going to click on the story. Now, to be completely honest, I don’t care. Sometimes if I hear something completely outrageous I’ll laugh, but no, the only thing I care about is my peace of mind, my well-being, my home, my family, the people I love, and the fact that I’m continuing to be successful in my industry. Everything else comes with the territory. You just have to get in on the joke, that’s what I realized.