Nicki Minaj & Meek Mill On Being Public With Their Relationship, Their Obsession w/ Kissing & How Jail Brought Them Together

GQ: Both of you guys have very close circles of friends and family. Was there anyone who objected to you guys dating?

MM: Not on my side.

NM: Everyone professionally [was on board]. The only person was my mother. My mother only knows Meek from what she sees in public, in the media. She met him now, but she just wants to make sure he’s a nice guy. She’s overprotective of her daughter. Another thing people don’t realize is I’ve only had three boyfriends in my whole life. I’ve never dated around… I don’t have a whole lot of experience in that department so my mother and my family were very like what? This is a big step, because they’ve only known one thing for over a decade. Even my pastor, who’s like a second mother, was scared. Everybody was just scared. Those women were scared for me because when I love someone I really let them in, and I really let me guard down, and I think it’s only natural for a mother to just you know, she just wanted to make sure I wasn’t rushing into anything.

GQ: Nicki, when did you know you liked him more than just physical attraction?

NM: Um, oh, I remember. When he came to LA we had only been speaking about rap shit, talking about the Kendrick verse and stuff at that time. And I was just like yeahhh you need to do this, you need to that…

MM: She was telling me to bomb everybody.

NM: Shut up. I was just telling him to be confident as an artist because I liked his music, etc. And then he came down to LA and we went to the studio and after that I didn’t see him for a very long time. We shot a video and I think probably around that time I was like oh, he’s cool. In terms of taking him seriously and going to another level with him: when he went to jail I was left in a house by myself and it was just a tough time for me and it happened to be a tough time for him as well.

GQ: Why were you left in a house by yourself? What do you mean?

NM: Ummm….

GQ: Complications with your ex boyfriend?

NM : Right. Yeah, it was weird and so at that time I was available. So I reached out to him letting him know…, It’s so funny that the day he went to jail, he was on my mind the day before.

MM: Basically she was feeling the kid before when I got booked.

NM: He was on my the day before because I saw him going off on twitter, and I was like oh man, he needs somebody to like make him feel good right now. So when I heard he went to jail I was really disappointed, I reached out to his people like yo, let him know I’m praying for him to come home. And they told him, and he asked them to call me for him. And it was like, I remember sitting on my balcony at my house and just being on the phone with him until it started getting dark outside. And I was just like yo, I’m in trouble. I just knew that first day, it was that long conversation. I was like uh-oh.

GQ: What’s the most common misconception about Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj?

NM: Together, I think one of the biggest misconceptions at the beginning was that people thought that me and him just popped up out of the blue and were just in a relationship. We were friends for a very long time and he was someone that I was able to really confide in. Nothing that we do is for TV. My decision to be public about my relationship came before I even met Meek. I was in another relationship and I said after I drop my third album that I don’t care anymore what people think, I’m going to be vocal about who I’m with. It just so happens that I’m with a new guy. When I came in the business, you couldn’t tell people you were in a relationship, because record company and management said that doesn’t make you appealing to men. So don’t tell people you’re in a relationship. So after you do that for ten years it becomes something you feel like you have to do. It’s difficult to break out of that box. So I just vowed to myself look, I’m about to put out a new album, I don’t care anymore. It just so happens I’m in a new relationship but I was planning on doing that before I was with Meek. Because now it’s to the point where it’s different now. The music industry is so different. People don’t care if you’re in a relationship, but in the beginning it wasn’t like that. Take Janet Jackson, people didn’t know she was married for nine years or something like that. It was a taboo thing in the beginning. I didn’t want to hide that side of my life anymore.

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