5 overall among women in any genre (behind Aretha Franklin, Taylor Swift, Dionne Warwick and Madonna). She can now claim the most Hot 100 hits of any female hip-hop artist and clocks in at No. One way to look at Minaj’s career - and aggressive, unapologetic attitude - is as a furious corrective to judgments of her gender, body and artistic choices. Tyga: I Don’t Really Get Along With Drake or Nicki Minaj Sometimes as women in the industry - if you’re sexy or like doing sexy things - some people subconsciously negate your brain. I think a lot of artists sit back and have it done for them. “I’m on 15 to 25 conference calls every few days strategizing with my team.

“People don’t know how heavily involved I am in my own career,” she says in a no-nonsense tone. Minaj sees herself as different from other stars. 3 hit co-billed with Ariana Grande and Jessie J. Minaj’s other high-profile appearance this year: “Bang Bang,” a No.

1 spot for eight weeks, blocking “Anaconda” from the top. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the year’s towering booty-themed smash belongs to Meghan Trainor, whose “All About That Bass” held the No. While “Anaconda” rates as Minaj’s biggest hit to date, reaching No. And Azalea’s not the only one crowding in on her turf. It was recently delayed from a late-November release to Dec. Minaj’s third album, The Pinkprint, has been a long time coming. Nicki Minaj: The Billboard Cover Photo Shoot “Iggy has had success, but only one album and two hits.” “Nicki’s body of work is miles ahead of Iggy, and Iggy knows this,” says Ebro Darden, assistant program director of R&B/hip-hop WQHT (Hot 97) New York and co-host of the station’s morning show.

It’s understandable why Minaj wouldn’t want to cede attention to Azalea, who this year arrived virtually out of nowhere to become one of hip-hop’s hottest acts, hawking her own blend of sex, controversy and chutzpah as effectively as Minaj ever has. (During the shoot, Minaj is picky about more than just music, bunkering in her dressing room for hours while multiple deliveries of food, from yogurt to pizza to steak, are brought in.) Still, when an Azalea song comes over the studio’s stereo, a member of Minaj’s team quickly shuts it off. Just this past August, backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), Azalea complimented Minaj on her performance - an effort, perhaps, at making nice after Minaj seemed to take a jab at her at the BET Awards in June, when, during her acceptance speech for best female hip-hop artist, Minaj made a pointed reference to how she writes her own records. THIS COVER STORY FIRST APPEARED IN BILLBOARD MAGAZINE GET THIS WEEK’S ISSUE HERE OR SUBSCRIBE TO BILLBOARD HERE

Nicki minaj anaconda video pics