Nicki Minaj may not be the most innovative recording artist to grace the charts or the greatest rapper to touch a mic, however she excels in two areas: landing magazine covers and posing for fashion spreads.
Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli transformed the Harajuku Barbie into famous courtesans in history: the Marquise de Montespan, Comtesse du Barry, Madame de Pompadour, and Madame Rimsky-Korsakov. His idea for the W Magazine spread was to “reproduce four iconic portraits of some of the most fascinating females of the past in a series starring an American pop-culture role model.”
Admittedly, her drive, antics & strategy have taking her places no other female hip-hop act has seen before. She said it herself…."Nicki ain't a rapper, Nicki is brand".