Strange how someone you once loved can become just another person you once knew.
I believe that life is a prize, but to live doesn't mean you're alive.
You gave me strengh gave me hope for a lifetime.
Good advice I always hated, but lookin back it made me greater.
Once upon a time there lived a real bad bitch. The fuckin' end.
Haters, I'm not your enemy I'm your hero. Cheer up, you should be happy I'm here
Dear God, I am only what you made me and I appreciate everything that you gave me, but like, I don't want to do it any more, sort of lost sight of what I'm doing it for.
Why did you envy? Why you go against me? When I got trendy, why you aint commend me? Why when I needed it, why you couldn't lend me? Why you was secretive frontin like you friendly?
Starships were meant to fly
Defend my honor protect my pride the good advice i always hated but looking back it made me greater .. u make me laugh u make me hoarse from yelling at you and getting at u ...
You could never understand why I grind like I do Makiyah & Jalani why I grind like I do
I get what I desire, it's my empire
Only one chance one bullet in the gun. This is my life and I only got one, yeah. The safety’s off and I put on her. Oh stick ‘em up, stick ‘em up. Ready to shoot.
But had I accepted the pickle juice, I would be drinking pickle juice right now.
Anyway, I think I met him sometime before, in a different life or where I record. I mean he was Adam, I think I was Eve, but my vision ends with the apple on the tree
You a stupid hoe
Bitches ain't shit, and they ain't sayin' nuthin'. A hundred muthafuckas can't tell me nuthin'.
Anyway I think I met him in the Swai. I was a Geisha, he was a Samurai
You can be the king, but watch the queen conquer.
I'm a role model now. I didn't know I was gonna have 13-year-old fans, so I've tried to change a few things here and there. But I also know that the girls don't want me to be Miley Cyrus, either.
No I'm not lucky, I'm blessed.
Life is a movie, but there will never be a sequel.
Your victory is right around the corner. Never give up.
My rule is, whatever you were calling me four years ago is what you should be calling me now, because I don't like it when my family or close friends call me Nicki Minaj. To me I'm not Nicki Minaj when I'm with them.
I don't have to do things just to please people. It's okay to do what I love because what I love, my fans love. And they're really the only ones that should matter.
I don't know if the secret of life is to find love, but I do think one of the secrets of life is to embody love.
I vowed that I'd never allow any man to control me or to be an alcoholic or anything like that around me, because I don't want my children seeing that.
My best and worst 'Idol' moments? I don't have a worst 'Idol' moment... I've been spectacular. Yes, I am going to toot my own horn. And then my best moment is every single moment. I'll toot it again!
My goal in the beginning was to buy my mother a house. Now I realize, okay, if I really focus and become a key player in business, then I can build an empire.
So, my happiness doesn't come from money or fame. My happiness comes from seeing life without struggle.
I went through a lot of bullying early on. Girls made my life a living hell. We had come to America from a different country. My brother and I had accents. It was very tough.
I want to show little girls that the possibilities are endless. That's my goal - to not only do it for myself, but to show them I can do whatever I put my mind to.
These B***hes Couldn't Test Me Even If Their Name Was Pop Quiz
Let Them Eat My A** Like A Cupcake
One of the first production deals I signed, the guy wanted my name to be Minaj and I fought him tooth and nail. But he convinced me. I've always hated it.
I've always had this female-empowerment thing in the back of my mind - because I wanted my mother to be stronger, and she couldn't be.
Who doesn't love Enya? Whenever I'm in a trying time, she is the calm in the middle of the storm. If I put her on, I'll be in this crazy peaceful state. I love her style. And her harmonies are freaking genius.
I've gotten tons of awards and I believe when it's my time to get a Grammy, I'll get a Grammy.
I look at rap as an opportunity to act. My head is full of different characters - in each song I'm auditioning a character.
I can rap in a London accent, make weird faces, wear spandex, wigs, and black lipstick. I can be more creative than the average male rapper.
I don't agree that everyone should agree with everyone's lifestyle. I think that some people aren't going to agree, but I think that when you're mean and when you ridicule people it's a sign of your own insecurities.
I don't want children cursing. I'm very strict on my nieces and my little brother. They have to listen to clean versions of music. Even my music.
My advice to women in general: Even if you're doing a nine-to-five job, treat yourself like a boss. Not arrogant, but be sure of what you want - and don't allow people to run anything for you without your knowledge.
Fame is the worst pain known to man. It’s stronger than heroin.
I'm a rapper... Gaga's a fantastic artist, you know, she paved her way. She's opened her own lane. But I think that I have my own lane. And we never cross. Ever. So, you know, I really don't get the comparison anymore. Our music doesn't sound the same. Our stage presence is not the same. I just can't see the similarities.
I feel like my entire career and life, I've been judged by people who did not really know me. I definitely think that they probably were right to assume what they had assumed about me, because there was such little to go on out there.
I think one of the things I was shocked about was how interested the world is in 'American Idol' and how people, writers, they write about 'Idol' all the time, and I guess I didn't expect that.
I cannot hold a grudge against Mariah Carey. What people don't understand is that I've looked up to her for so many years.
If people are sitting in the barbershop talking about my butt, it's conversational. That's what people are gonna do.
I know right now she has no idea who I am, but I'd like to collaborate with Enya one day. Of course I'd love to work with Jay-Z, maybe even Phil Collins. I love his voice.
The animated bug has bitten pop culture. It makes me feel happy and free. When you don't act seriously, you can make up your own rules.
Like to me, I did the 'Harajuku' stuff. I did the crazy stuff. And now I kind of want to tone that back, and it's not toning my personality back, it's just showing like I don't only have to do that.
Lavender is the new pink. I'll never stop wearing pink but I wanted to venture out.
I think sometimes the fashion world isn't even about clothes anymore; it's about this 'in' crowd, and I'm not into that.
People always want to talk about who I was, but I've always been singing, always been experimenting with pop music.
Female rappers get it the hardest. You have to be a girl, yet you have to be just as hard as the guys. I think some female rappers get scared out of the business before they can make it.
Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I am like, 'This is a high-top day' or 'This is a bob day,' but when I get my clothes on that's when I see.
My whole life is about being Nicki Minaj now. It's a never-ending saga.
I don't put cash in my Louis Vuitton wallet. I have it thrown around my bag - jut a whole bunch of hundreds, maybe $5,000.
I say nice things about Mariah all the time. I tell Mariah all the time how much of a fan I am of her. She's one of my favorite artists of all time... She's shaped a generation of singers.
I'm thinking of a legacy that I can be proud of and wealth that my grandchildren can use to go to college. So world domination - in terms of providing for my family - is absolutely my goal.
My goal the whole time has been for people to see me as a stand-alone artist. I came out with Young Money, the biggest hip-hop label in the world at the time. And then it was, 'How do I branch away from Lil Wayne?'
Everyone knows I'm a lash girl by now. When I don't have my lashes, I feel naked.
When I get up in the morning and put on a pink or a green wig, I see myself as a piece of animation. It lets me be the person I want to be, a person who's not embarrassed to have fun.
My wigs are ever changing in height, width, color, size. They make me feel happy. Wearing them makes me feel like I can be a different person every day and that is kind of exciting.
I do have a few personalities. When people started making a big deal out of it, I started making names for these people.
I hate formal stuff. I love looking like a doll and all that stuff and playing dress up, but when I'm home, sweat pants, t-shirt. When I'm in the studio, sweat pants, t-shirt.
If I'm traveling, I'll pack socks in my bag - really cute furry ones.
I can't see myself without pink lipstick. I can go without it for a couple days, but if there was no more pink lipstick in the world, I'd be useless. Seriously.
I'm just happy that 'Idol' producers gave me a shot on the show and to be able to show who I really was, because I feel like I'm every single woman.
I don't need to Google myself.
I want people - especially young girls - to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You've got to have something else to go with that.
But, by just being myself, I end up touching a lot more people who might never have paid much attention to a female rapper.
I've constantly tried new things, even as a child, and have always been obsessed with pink. Now I'm just a little more ladylike and fearless. You should never feel afraid to become a piece of art. It's exhilarating.
I've always been the type of person to make everybody happy and get things done. I want everything to be 100% perfect.
I don't want a wig that looks like a wig; I want one that could pass for a weave.
I don't mind being called a weirdo.
I think a child may be the only thing that could give me true happiness.
My happiness doesn't come from money or fame. My happiness comes from seeing life without struggle.
You should never feel afraid to become a piece of art. It's exhilarating.
You have to know that as long as you love who you are - your morals, your values, that type of stuff - you're OK.
Maybe your weird is my normal. Who's to say?
People face difficulties, no matter who you are. I faced difficulties with a lot of things. I face opposition every day, but I didn't kill myself and now, thank God, I'm here.
You wanna know what scares people? Success. When you don't make moves and when you don't climb up the ladder, everybody loves you because you're not competition.
When you're a girl, you have to be everything, You have to be dope at what you do, but you have to be super sweet, and you have to be sexy, and you have to be this and you have to be that and you have to be nice, and you have to - it's like, I can't be all of those things at once. I'm a human being.
I don't mind being called a weirdo. There are a lot of people in hip-hop who are probably never going to get what I do. But, by just being myself, I end up touching a lot more people who might never have paid much attention to a female rapper.
I think most artists will experience a lot of negative people on Twitter but, thank God, I've got so many followers that I'm not able to see them that much. I'll see some from time to time but, for the most part, I always focus on something good.
I hate cameras. I hate cameras and I hate camera phones. The camera's my worst enemy and my best friend. It's the way I convey my emotions to the world without saying a word, so I use it. People always say, 'You come alive as soon as the camera's on!'
I've always been intrigued by color and by interesting hair. I was one of those weird little girls doing my own hair at the age of 9. I was, like, getting weird gels and new brushes and cornrow holders. I would tweak and perm at the age of 13.
When people see my makeup, they think all types of crazy things that I'm doing to my skin, but it's makeup. It's the weirdest thing. They'll see contouring and think you had surgery on your nose. No. No. No. Look at 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and you'll see... you can make your nose look... what ever shape you want it.
When I was younger I didn't have much financially, like we couldn't afford a lot of stuff and I remember seeing little girls' rooms on TV and they'd all be pink. I didn't have my own room, I shared with my brother, so I would have this daydream and imagine that one day I could have my own room and it would all be pink, like Cinderella's.
Sometimes I want to just pull the off switch, but you can't because if you go outside, you have to give people your all. You can't say, 'Oh, you know what? I'm not feeling good today.' No. No one's trying to hear that. When a woman comes up to you and says, 'Hey, my daughter's your biggest fan. Can we have a picture?' - you can't say no.
As a little girl growing up in Southside Jamaica Queens, if anyone would've told me I'd have my own perfume one day, and be able to inspire young black girls everywhere, to go into Macy's or Nordstrom's and see their face staring back at them - I wouldn't believe them.
It's not hard to get your way when it's your way or the highway. People either follow suit or they're not around. I don't really like the sound of that, 'cause that sounds like a temper tantrum. I'm just very black and white when it comes to my business. There's really no gray area.
I happen to be a pessimist, and maybe that's a good thing because I don't stop to smell the roses - which is not a good personal thing. I don't stop and enjoy those moments... Always on to the next and never in the moment.
