"I Was Always Attracted To Intelligent Rappers"

Young Money's Nicki Minaj opens up about her admiration toward rap mogul Jay-Z and what turns her on the most about articulate emcees in the new issue of 5 Magazine.

Within her feature, Minaj names Jay-Z her favorite hip-hop artist.

"It was like whatever Jay-Z says is the gospel because he was smart," she said in the interview. "I was always attracted to intelligent rappers. Like if you can make me think... That's why I'm so into metaphors. I love double meanings of things. Just having people look at things in a different way because all my favorite rappers [like Lil Wayne] that's what they do, that's what intrigued me." (5 Magazine)

Last year, Minaj opened up about receiving a co-sign courtesy of Jay.

"I was like, 'What?' " Minaj said about Jigga claiming she has "charm." "Obviously, Jay-Z ... Jay-Z is a person in hip-hop that you almost don't think he exist until you meet him. It's almost like he's bigger than a person. He's a mythical figure. That's a great way to describe it. I was like, 'Jay-Z knows me?' I didn't think he knew who I was, let alone recommend me for something. If he did know who I was, I didn't know if he liked my style or approved. It was weird. It was like getting that stamp of approval from the most popular jock in high school and being a freshman in high school and thinking no one knows you exist." (MTV)

In April, Lil Wayne spoke on Minaj's rise to fame and realizing her star power during their "I Am Still Music" tour.

"I really didn't get on my knees to give praise, but then I remembered we had a crowd out there," Wayne playfully told Mixtape Daily. "I got on my knees to do something totally different, but I was like, we got a crowd out there, so let me just give praise...I promise to God, you know what I thought about? When I saw her up there just walking and everybody singing her stuff and she making all those facial expressions, I was just like, I remember watching that [Come Up] DVD ... When shorty was in the tub. I remember watching that and where she came from and just to know that not that I did that, that she did that. I mean, it's a beautiful thing." (Mixtape Daily)

Outside of co-signs, Minaj's Young Money debut Pink Friday is still climbing the sales chart since its 2010 release.

Young Money star Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday moved up four positions to No. 33 with 12,500. After 27 weeks, the Barbie's debut album has sold 1,394,000 pieces. (SOHH Sales Wrap)