Nicki Minaj recently spoke about who influenced her as a rapper growing up. Speaking with Peter Rosenberg on Hot 97 in New York City, Minaj cited fellow female rappers as having the largest influence:
"When Remy Ma came out, I was very, very excited about her. With Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, and Remy, they were all from New York too, but it's no disrespect to any other female rappers, but those are the ones that I felt like, 'Yeah, I could get into that.'"
Minaj explained, "They sounded like me when I spoke. I just thought they made an impact."
Missy Elliott and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes were also cited by Nicki as big influences:
"I always loved Missy 'cause she was playful and I always said, Missy and Left Eye, they weren't afraid to be goofy at times and I loved that as well."
Minaj is currently in New York filming The Other Woman with Cameron Diaz while working on her third album.
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