Nicki Minaj has given the Barbs some insight into the inner workings of her mind, especially as to how her creative process goes down in the studio.
The Queens native sat down with Vogue on Thursday (November 9), where she revealed that she went back to her proverbial roots while creating her new album Pink Friday 2.
AD LOADING...
“When I look back at a lot of my music, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, where was the me in it?'” she said to the venerated fashion outlet. “So for this album, I went back to the old game plan.”
She continued: “The idea that saying something like that [referring to the lyric, “I’m fighting for the girls who never thought they could win,” [from “I’m The Best” on Pink Friday] could give hope to people — that optimistic outlook is something I think I got away from.”
AD LOADING...
In the same interview, Nicki Minaj detailed how she was prescribed Percocet for menstrual pain and quickly became hooked.
“No one told me that this was a narcotic and this was addictive,” Minaj said. “Luckily I was able to ground myself. But — once an addict, always an addict. I feel like if you’ve ever experienced addiction to anything, which I have, you always have to think twice and three times about the choices that you make.”
AD LOADING...
Nicki also compared her situation to other high profile figures who have had drug issues: “Look at some of our biggest celebrities. They eventually either get laughed out of wanting to go outside anymore, like Michael Jackson, or criticized, like Whitney Houston, or they fight silent battles, like Prince.
“These are some of the greatest of all time. And one day they decided, ‘You know what? I’d rather self-medicate and be in my own world.’”
AD LOADING...
Nicki Minaj previously discussed rumors of her drug use in 2021 and denied ever using cocaine.
“I have never, ever in my life, with my hand to Jesus Christ…Never in my life, ever, not even once, sniffed coke — ever! That’s just never been my drug of choice,” she said on Instagram Live. “You would know, if you’re a fan of mine, that all you gotta do if you wanna know my drug of choice or my drugs of choice, just listen to my music, chile, ’cause it’s all right there.”
Elsewhere in her Vogue interview, the “Anaconda” rapper addressed her family’s history of substance abuse, with her father suffering from crack cocaine addiction while she was a child.
“I think about watching my father go back and forth, and I just wish that at the time I understood that he wasn’t doing it because he wanted to,” she said. “I thought that he was making a conscious effort to be addicted to a drug that would have him steal his children’s video games and sell them for money.
AD LOADING...
“Think about that — who would make a conscious effort to do that? Now I realize, those people weren’t making those choices because they wanted to hurt their family. Addiction took over their bodies and their lives. They were victims too.”
