Nicki Minaj Chatted with Jada Pinkett Smith About Rap, Motherhood & More For 'Interview Magazine'
While chatting with Jada Pinkett Smith for Interview Magazine, Nicki Minaj teased an upcoming album, spoke about motherhood and more.
Nicki Minajrecently held a conversation with her acting idol Jada Pinkett Smithfor Interview Magazine. In a newly-published article, the "Super Freaky Girl" rapper teased a fifth album, spoke about motherhood and who she admires in the new era of rap.
"I love my son so much that I don’t know if it’s normal, but it seems unhealthy because I took too long to start working and leaving him to be watched by anyone, so now I have this real bad separation anxiety," Minaj said about her hiatus from rap after having her son, affectionately known as "Papa Bear."
Minaj added that when she was two-years-old, her parents left her with relatives in Trinidad to relocate in the United States.
"Of course, I was very attached to my mother, and in my little toddler mind, I thought I was going to see her the next day. And she was gone for two years, so that’s a big part in my development," she said.
The 39-year-old rapper also revealed that she was 17 when she met her now-husband Kenneth Petty, who was "21 or 22" when he first acquainted with Minaj.
"I’ve known him for a long time, so because of that we are really good friends and I never feel fear to share anything with him," she said.
On the viral success of "Super Freaky Girl," Minaj shared that fans can expect a fifth album from her later this year. The album follows her 2018 effort Queen, which boasted appearances from The Weeknd, Eminem, Foxy Brown, Swae Lee and others.
“It feels so, so, so, so good because everything happened so fast, like the pregnancy and COVID," she said. "I wasn’t sure how I was even feeling about having to put out an album this year, but that song happening and people liking it, that made me happy. People have gone through so much recently that they want to have fun. It’ll probably expedite the album to come out this year.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Minaj revealed that she passed on a Gunna feature that eventually went to Drake ("P power"). The Grammy-nominated rapper also admitted she wishes there was "more singing" and individuality in hip-hop, shouting out Lil Baby for having "catchy hooks and melodies out the wazoo."
"What I’m seeing now is that so many new artists are trying to become the person they looked up to instead of giving us a new flavor! And it’s irking the crap out of me!" she added. "I know I could see so much talent in some of the new artists, females, males, whatever. But they lose me when I’m seeing the person who they are trying to be like or sound like more than I’m seeing who they are."
Also promising to appear on Red Table Talk, Minaj has long admired Pinkett Smith, voicing her fandom of the actress' roles in A Different World and Set It Off. In 2011, Minaj featured on "Fireball" with Pinkett Smith's then-adolescent daughter, Willow.