Home Interviews Nicki Minaj Surprised By Success: ‘I Never Saw All Of This’.

Nicki Minaj Surprised By Success: ‘I Never Saw All Of This’.

December 23, 2010

‘When [Lil] Wayne first called and reached out, I thought it was a joke,’ MC admits to MTV News.

What’s a girl without her dreams? Nicki Minaj has realized more of hers than most this year, from releasing her highly successful debut LP, Pink Friday to becoming MTV News’ #6 Hottest MC in the Game. And, the Queens MC said she’s still surprised by her achievements.

“A part of me expected it, because I wanted it so bad, but I never saw all of this,” the MC told MTV News’ Sway Calloway. “You know, I never would’ve imagined that I would’ve signed to [Lil] Wayne, number one.”

On Monday, Minaj took time between takes while filming her video for “Moment 4 Life” with Drake to talk about becoming the queen of rap’s reigning crew.

“[I] never imagined that Young Money/ Cash Money would be the hip-hop crew,” she said. “To be signed to them is one thing, but to be signed to them when they’re at their height, when this has become like an insane movement? No, I never imagined that, because when Wayne first called and reached out, I thought it was a joke.

“I’ve wanted this for a very long time, but I couldn’t — not even with a crystal ball — I could not have predicted these things would really happen this way.”

Minaj has even outsold, if we’re counting weekly sales, one of her idols: Mr. Kanye West. West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy dropped November 22, the same day as Pink Friday. And while West garnered bigger opening-week numbers, Barbie has outpaced his album sales per week for the past 14 days. To date, Minaj’s release has sold 658,439 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“Girl power!” she said, with a giggle.

Are you surprised by Nicki Minaj’s success this year? Tell us in the comments below.