Nicki Minaj says trying to look sexy for men is "boring."

The "Check It Out" rapper was constantly told to act and dress in a seductive way when she started off her hip-hop career but she resisted. Nicki is now famous for her flamboyant outfits and obsession with Barbie dolls and she insists it's important to embrace your uniqueness as a woman rather than conform to the stereotypical concept of sexiness that pervades throughout the pop world.

"When I started getting serious about rap, the people closest to me were like, 'You should dress this way, you should speak that way, you should rap this way.' I just started feeling super caged in. It seemed the only look for women in hip-hop was sexy. I thought you had to do that. But it's boring. The typical sexy. I mean, girls wanna be sexy but I also think you have other sides of yourself."

Nicki made a concious decision to alter her look before her album Pink Friday was released in 2010 because she realized she had been suppressing so much of her personality. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, she added, "Right before my album came out I felt like I had been hiding my personality - my comedic side."