Nicki Minaj Is “Complex”: People Look At Me Like This B*tch Is Stupid And I’m Like… “NO B*TCH, YOU’RE STUPID!!!”

Nicki Minaj covers Complex magazine like we have never seen her before… a real human being. She’s toning down the cartoon act to show you the woman that lies underneath. She doesn’t take too kindly to people asking about her “relationship” with Diddy but doesn’t keep her mouth closed when it comes to Cassie…

Complex: Everyone has this image of you as a cartoon character with outlandish wigs, but at our shoot today you were much more low-key.

Nicki Minaj: [Laughs.] Every woman is a character—but people need to see I’m a regular human. It’s like you wear a pink wig and you’re no longer human all of sudden. You’re a thing. Like today [the photographer] was like, “Where is that Nicki Minaj smile?” But this shoot doesn’t call for the Nicki Minaj smile. You guys wanted me subdued, so I’m gonna give you a different side. I’m not gonna pull a string and be like, “It’s Barbie, b*tch!”

Complex: You think people still underestimate you, even with the success you’ve been having?

Nicki Minaj: Absolutely. A lot of people don’t know I wrote all the hooks on the album. I arranged the music, did the transitions. [Other female rappers] are told what to do, but I run my entire empire; I don’t think people would expect that.

Complex: What are some of your biggest mistakes?

Nicki Minaj: I won’t say.

Were they recent mistakes?

Nicki Minaj: Yeah.

Recent as in “Massive Attack”?

Nicki Minaj: [Laughs.] Next question.

Complex: You have the smash single “Your Love” out right now. When did you record it?

Nicki Minaj: Two years ago, before I dropped Beam Me Up Scotty. I loved the beat and the hook, but I didn’t like my delivery on it; that’s why I re-recorded it when it leaked. [Before it leaked] I was like, “This is going in the trash.”

Complex: Where do all your different voices come from?

Nicki Minaj: I have no idea. I think Wayne kind of influenced that. He has always been really carefree when he raps and I was like, “I don’t have to stay in one cadence or stay in one tone when I rap—I can just do what I want.”

Complex: But you’ve been saying in recent interviews that you might tone down the voices.

Nicki Minaj: Sometimes the sh*t I say is over people’s heads and I feel like I need to dumb it down a bit so people can understand it. I think if I had said a lot of raps in a particular voice, people would go, “Yo, that shit was hard”—but when you change up your voice a little bit, they can’t see past that. And they’re lookin’ at me like, “This b*tch is stupid”—and I’m lookin’ at them like, “No, b*tch, you’re stupid.” [Laughs.]

Complex: The successful female rappers that have come before you each had a strong male counterpart. How do you make sure people don’t say Lil Wayne is pulling the strings on your career?

Nicki Minaj: I always keep Nicki Minaj separate from Young Money. I allow Wayne to call the shots when we do group albums, but when I do other things and have other choices, I don’t necessarily need everyone’s go-ahead. I write my own raps, I go in the studio by myself. There are some female rappers who can’t go in the studio unless they have a ghostwriter sitting right next to them. I’m the complete opposite—I’ll go in and ghostwrite for someone.

Complex: You know, you kinda put Diddy and Cassie out there on “Lil’ Freak.”

Nicki Minaj: How did I put them out there?

Complex: They never speak in the press about being together, and you say, “I’m plotting on how I can take Cassie away from Diddy.”

Nicki Minaj: Oh! Did I do that? [Laughs.] Sorry.

Complex: I saw a video interview where you said you wanted to have a threesome with Cassie and Lauren London. What is it about Cassie that you love so much?

Nicki Minaj: She’s so peaceful and serene. There’s something about her that is so effortless. She’s my friend on BBM.

Complex: How did your relationship with Diddy start? Obviously, he manages you now…

Nicki Minaj: Who said that? Who told you that? Did I tell you that? I don’t want you to say “obviously” if I didn’t tell you that, so let’s start that question over.

Complex: It has been reported that Diddy and James Cruz manage you now—so how did that relationship start?

Nicki Minaj: I don’t care to discuss management and don’t care to discuss Diddy any further.

Complex: You’ve said in recent interviews that you want to tone down the sexual content in your music. What prompted that?

Nicki Minaj: On “My Chick Bad,” I had to show people that I can spit a verse without sex or talking about how good I look. I’m actually timid when it comes to being overtly sexy, which is weird because in the beginning people thought of me like some freakin’ porn star. Guys reference sex all the time in their raps—I can’t even think of a record where Wayne doesn’t talk about sex—but when a female does it, people start tuning out. Then this gay dude the other day told me, “I say to dudes, ‘Maybe it’s time to put this p*ssy on your sideburns.’” I was crying laughing and I was like, “I can’t take this shit out of my act.” People live for that sh*t. [Laughs.] I just have to balance it a little bit.