Nicki Minaj Opens Up About The Emotional Process Of Creating ‘The Pinkprint’: ‘I Literally Cried’


Nicki Minaj may be keeping quiet regarding rumors that she’s working on a new album for 2016, but it appears that Minaj is taking some time to reflect on the process of recording her third studio album, The Pinkprint, after the record recently received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album.

Minaj, who is also nominated for Best Rap Performance for “Truffle Butter” and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Only” alongside Lil Wayne, Drake, and Chris Brown, recently opened up about the emotional process of creating The Pinkprint in an interview with Hits Daily Double, telling the publication that the Grammy-nominated album is her most “vulnerable” to date.

When asked about what winning a Grammy would mean to her personally, noting that Minaj is the only female in every category that she has been nominated for this year, Minaj admits that she hopes the victory would allow her to inspire more women to pursue their dreams of breaking into the male-dominated industry.

“Winning a Grammy would inspire so many women to continue to rap and write and to never give up. I’ve put so many years into this culture that I often feel overlooked,” Nicki explains, noting that prior to her three studio album releases, she released three mixtapes that helped to “change the game for women in rap.”

“I would literally sit in a room for days and write, and my sole purpose was to be better than the boys and to prove that women are just as smart, creative, witty, business-savvy, etc.,” Minaj admits.

“I never really felt that male rappers saw us as their equals. I was determined to change that.”

Speaking on her writing and recording process, Minaj reveals that she loves when a song feels like it has been “ripped out of a page in my diary,” noting that The Pinkprint‘s intro track, “All Things Go,” is special to her because it “takes me away to a dark yet hopeful place.”

Nicki Minaj admits she got emotional while recording her third album, "The Pinkprint."
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

“Those records don’t usually become singles,” Minaj explains of her soul-baring tracks, “but they are the heart of the album. Songs like that and ‘I Lied,’ ‘The Crying Game,’ and ‘Grand Piano.’ If Adele were to sing ‘Grand Piano,’ a lot more people would listen to it and be able to understand the significance of it.”

Minaj also reflects on how collaborating with mentor Lil Wayne and fellow label mate Drake inspired her recording process, admitting that Lil Wayne encouraged her to write her verses more quickly and that Drake spends “a lot of time narrowing down the actual beat he wanted to rap on.”

Speaking on her emotionally-charged tracks from The Pinkprint, Minaj admits that, while she “enjoyed going to the studio and creating every day” and getting “excited just thinking about how my fans would react to certain records,” she found it difficult to bare her soul and make the album more vulnerable given her tendency to be private about her personal life.

“Once you bare your soul, you feel very vulnerable. Especially when you’re used to being private,” Minaj explains, “But I really felt the need to document this period in my life and to create my own ‘pink print.'”

Nicki Minaj talks being nominated for a Grammy for her third studio album.
(Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for A+E Networks)

“I literally cried in the booth and cried while writing; but it’s my favorite album to date,” Nicki concludes of The Pinkprint.

While Nicki Minaj’s team is reportedly staying tight-lipped regarding speculation that Minaj has some new music in the works for eager fans, Minaj is currently staying busy serving as an executive producer of her upcoming ABC Family comedy series that is based on her own life and journey to success.

What do you think of Nicki Minaj’s comments about recording The Pinkprint?

[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]

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