Nicki Minaj for Complex Magazine

Finally here is a photoshoot of Nicki Minaj that I can appreciate. She is always so over-the-top and extra animated, with the funny big voices and crazy wigs, that it is very refreshing to see her strip all that away for the Complex October/November issue.

Complex: Everyone has this image of you as a cartoon character with outlandish wigs, but at our shoot today you were much more low-key.

Nicki Minaj: [Laughs.] Every woman is a character—but people need to see I'm a regular human. It's like you wear a pink wig and you're no longer human all of sudden. You're a thing. Like today [the photographer] was like, "Where is that Nicki Minaj smile?" But this shoot doesn't call for the Nicki Minaj smile. You guys wanted me subdued, so I'm gonna give you a different side. I'm not gonna pull a string and be like, "It's Barbie, bitch!"