Nicki Minaj Credits Rough Upbringing for Not Being a Push Over

By: Taren Vaughan

Nicki Minaj may have revamped her look and style, but you better believe that the rapper’s urge to speak her mind has gone nowhere at all. From day one of her gig with American Idol, Nicki dealt with rumors about her supposedly beefing with Mariah Carey. And those rumors later gained truth to them as Nicki and Mariah have failed to get long and they don’t pass up chances to shade each other. Though Nicki has taken her shots at Mariah with Mariah returning the favor, Nicki admitted that she  felt betrayed by Mariah as she thought they actually were friends and even said that she looked up to Mariah when she was younger. In an interview that she did with Teen Vogue, Nicki Minaj says that she views the industry as nothing but a huge popularity contest at times and that she is not one for sucking up to people just because they are on top at the moment:

“People treat this business like it’s high school. It can absolutely feel like one big popularity contest, and you know what? I can’t be bothered. I can’t allow myself to play ridiculous games with grown adults in the industry. I can’t be nice to someone just because they’re hot right now. I can’t do it.”

And Nicki credits her attitude to the rough times she faced growing up:

“Every time my parents fought, my mother would have us move and I would have to go to a new school, which meant I’d have to face the task of making new friends. I dreaded it. I had butterflies in my stomach each time: Are people going to like or hate me? … Sometimes there’d be a fight, sometimes not. I let people know I wasn’t going to be pushed around.”

While some celebrities are not open to hear others’ thoughts of them, Nicki says she loves to hear people’s real opinions:

“My journey to who I am today began on MySpace. I love getting real opinions from people.”

And Nicki doesn’t spend her time reading the negative comments that people make about her but chooses to focus more on the positive things. And she says that social media networks can be very toxic, especially for teenagers:

“I used to read the bad things people said about me. Then I asked myself, ‘Why am I reading that when I have millions of people saying great things?’ You cannot give negativity power. I tell teens, if you’re having a problem, there’s nothing wrong with deleting your social media. If people keep taunting you and you keep reading it, it’s poison.”

Check out the cover below:

And photos from the spread Nicki did with the magazine: