Nicki Minaj Speaks On 'Sellout' & 'Pop' Disses, "Hip-Hop Culture Starts Getting A Little Afraid I'm Going To Leave"

Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj has stepped up to address critics and fans alike who feel she turned her back on emceeing for a shot as a mainstream pop artist.

Talking to New York's Hot 97 radio veteran Funkmaster Flex, Nicki defended her image and said she had taken note of the criticisms.

"I would hope that people know at this point that I'm smart enough to know what I'm doing all the time. But I guess they still kind of waiver. I always intended on putting out something urban after 'Starships,' because I knew 'Starships' was a monster," she explained. "Maybe it would be a problem if I couldn't deliver records like 'Roman Reloaded,' but I can. I write my own lyrics. Once again, I write my own lyrics. So it's never a problem. Whatever I feel, I can write, I can create it. So I'm good. I think people sometimes get blown away by the magnitude of the pop stuff, because the pop stuff, it reaches everywhere and then I feel like my hip-hop fans or hip-hop culture starts getting a little bit afraid that I'm going to leave. But this is who I am. I'm not going to change - I'm just adding on to my brand. And if you don't understand that, then it's probably why you don't travel and you don't see the world and I probably can't even have a conversation with you anymore." (Hot 97)

Yesterday, Nicki unleashed her Lil Wayne-assisted new "Roman Reloaded" track going at her critics.

Nicki Minaj is firing both barrels on her new single. "Roman Reloaded," the title track of her April-due sophomore album, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," made its debut on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show on Thursday night. Unlike the RedOne-produced dance-pop candy of "Starships" or the Grammy-premiered exorcism drama of "Roman Holiday," "Roman Reloaded" is a more traditionalist hip-hop offering, featuring hard-hitting production and guest verses from Lil Wayne. The brag-heavy track ranges from the absurd -- "Bite me/Apple sign" -- to the violent, with Minaj dropping a reference to the Columbine High shootings amid the gunshot-style percussion. (The Juice)

On the record, the self-proclaimed Barbie lets it be known she has not turned her career over for a shot in pop music.

"I guess I went commercial, just shot a commercial," Nicki raps, "when I flew to the Center, I ain't fly commercial/And the ad is global, ave is local/Where we shot it, was a lot of different agriculturals/So I laugh at hopefuls/Nicki pop? Only thing that pops is my endorsement opp." ("Roman Reloaded")

This week, some bloggers and websites were suggesting Minaj may have fallen off from the gritty hip-hop spotlight.

Alright, you scum, you daily trolls that roam about the Internet highway looking to rag on anyone that disses your precious Nicki Minaj, you fervent devotees that refuse to believe that the mental case MTV product sold out: we've got pure video truth here, and you can't argue a word against the fact that she gave up everything she was for fame. Five years prior to her glamorous sell out for fantastical fame and female rapper claims, Nicki actually was rapping, and doing it well as you'll see in the unearthed music video below where she does some acapella work and bars over "Dirty Money." There's no Frankensteinian cosmetic work, no vainglorious garb, and no bullsh*t--it's straight Nicki, looking more like Jean Grae than a plastic cartoon of a failed hair metal frontman, and actually doing something to justify her female emcee claims. Here's the video, the truth that Nicki sold out. Hope you enjoy yourselves. (Ology)