Nicki Minaj recently sat down with Glamour for a segment called "Dos and Don'ts of Bossing Up," in which she shares some of her hard-fought wisdom; much of the advice she dispenses draws on her experiences as a woman in an industry dominated by males. Seeing as most industries are dominated by males, her advice applies pretty universally. Check out some excerpts below:
DO have a clear vision for what you want to do.
"I wanted to take my time with [my new album] and show people I was capable of making something people could really relate to. Jay Z has always been a role model because he inspires people [to believe] they can go from selling drugs to being one of the most celebrated businessmen of our time. That's what I want to do for young girls, to say, 'It doesn't matter where you started in your life. You too can become a mogul and anything you want to be.'"
DO ignore labels.
"I used to be so, so hurt by the way women are labeled as bitches—it would just make me angry. I would work around powerful men all day, every day, and their attitudes were horrible, but a man just gets a pass. He gets The Man Pass! The Donald Trumps and Kanye Wests and Lil Waynes can have a bad day, they can be cocky and disrespectful and arrogant, and at the end of the day we laugh at it. With a woman it's always like, 'Excuse me, how dare you?' But I've always been a 'Where there's a will, there's a way' kind of person. I know I'm as great as the great men in hip-hop, in terms of being an MC. And I think, secretly, they all know! Your overall confidence has to come from within."
DO the work your way.
"We don't have a lot of women who have a huge voice in hip-hop, so the odds that a man in hip-hop will sit down and listen to The Pinkprint in its entirety are not in my favor. You just have to do your work, and someday, hopefully, you will get the credit you deserve. And if I don't, I have a lot of inner peace with my own work, because I know that I pushed myself and this album came out just the way I wanted it to."
[via XXL]