Rapper, Nicki Minaj, Covers the May 2011 Issue of Elle Magazine

“It” female rapper right now, Nicki Minaj, is on the cover of next month’s Elle Magazine in a 5-page spread. The issue is a tribute to music. Nikki looks very toned-down from her usual “futuristic” fashion choices and decided to go for the basic hair color of black for the shoot.

In the profile the rapper talks about how she chose to do “punch lines and be comical, to show how bad I am lyrically, as opposed to how sexy I think I am.”

The Young Money first lady who “lived and shopped in Jamaica, Queens” says she went from wearing Ed Hardy to being decked out in Givenchy, “I tend to like booties…[pause] and really flashy shoes; totally studded out, in five colors with an insane platform.

On her career aspirations growing up: “I always wanted to play with the boys. I didn’t want to be a pawn in their game or have a sidekick role. I wanted to be more of a lead character—a superhero.”

Behind The Scenes Footage: