Nicki Minaj Calls Kanye West 'A Genius'

Nikki talks with Sway.

Years ago, the Lil Wayne protégé thought the megastar would "hate" her because of his cushy relationships with conscious-leaning rappers Common and Talib Kweli.

In 2010, though, 'Ye would praise her, saying she had the potential to be the world's second-biggest rapper — with only Eminem ahead of her.

"I had this conversation, 'Kanye West is gonna hate me,' " Minaj told MTV News. "[But] I met him and it was, 'Oh, come here, I want you to look at these naked girls.' Kanye West is everything that I didn't think he was, and a genius." 

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Minaj and West collaborated on two tracks for West's forthcoming My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and the Queens lyricist supplies the opening narration for 'Ye's short film "Runaway."

After having worked with West, the Queens lyricist said she learned to appreciate his passion for music.

"He doesn't limit himself," she explained. "I heard him say the other day, not in these words, 'I'm not doing this for the masses, I'm not doing this for mainstream, you have to come to me, come get this art if you want it.' I think that's important for all artists to feel that way — we make so many changes because we want to please everybody. But at the end of the day, you can't please everybody."