Here's a ten second recap of the Drake Vs Meek Mill beef saga. Meek Mill claims Drake doesn't write his own raps, Drake writes raps—plural—that embarrass Meek Mill, the internet follows with a trillion terabytes worth of memes to provide some institutional memory of the lyrical ass whooping. The photos you're looking at now happened to be shot the day Drake released Meek's first diss record, "Charged Up." On set at the shoot, between photos, Meek tweeted: "Baby lotion soft." The world disagreed.
In retrospect, it didn't really matter that Meek lost a rap battle. Because he still has the girl. Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj are the power couple hip-hop's always wanted. Though they're constantly compared to Jay Z and Beyonce, Jay and Bey are more like United Nations ambassadors at this point. Where as, every day with the Meek and Nicki is the Solange elevator ride—fiery, spontaneous, unpredictable, publicist heart-attack inducing.
With tweets and money flying everywhere, we sat down with 2015's Bonnie and Clyde to silence their relationship haters once and for all.
GQ: This is kind of a silly question but how normal is your relationship?
Meek Mill: Very un-normal. It still ain't normal. You think so?
Nicki Minaj: I definitely think we have a normal relationship off-camera. We're like any other couple in the hood. We're growing as a couple and as people and as human beings, but we still have our careers. And I think probably the only thing that makes it un-normal is that we're both successful artists, and that's probably not normal. But other than that, our feelings are very normal. Like, if I were to speak to a hundred girls right now about what they go through with their boyfriend, we'd probably have stuff in common.
GQ: What's the ideal double date that y'all haven't been on?
MM: I don't know. A lot of people. Alicia Keys and Swiss Beats. Jay-z and Beyonce.
NM: Yeah, I happen to love Alicia and Swizz because they're both so down to earth. So we already are friends with them and Bey and Jay. So those are already friends. We admire and respect them. So that's a no brainer. On another note, I like just going out with my best girlfriends and his guy friends, and we do that all the time. Because it's fun, we'll all get together and do truth or dare and do some crazy funny shit. We have fun together whether it's with famous people or not. We don't need to be around famous people to have fun.
GQ: How often does Meek ask you for…
NM: A kiss?
GQ: Sure. A kiss.
NM: All the time.
GQ: Well he can just probably just kiss you now, right? Without asking.
MM: Sometimes. (Laughs)
NM: Actually I love kissing him. My favorite thing about Meek is kissing him, which is weird. Just now I was like 'damn, you've been asking can I kiss you a lot now,' and it's contagious because I used to be always asking him to kiss him when we first started talking. I love kissing him. I love the way his lips feel.
[It's at this moment Nicki shoots Meek a look that can only be compared to a Marine's wife seeing her husband for the first time after a double tour during war time, the kind of look that would lead to instant sexing if I weren't there. Luckily Nicki kept talking.]
MM: Yeah, and wouldn't you want to kiss Nicki Minaj too all day?
GQ: You guys are on tour together. Which means you guys are going to spend a lot of time together. Were there any doubts or fears about that putting strain on your pretty fresh relationship?
NM: I was excited.
MM: Me too. I was excited. It's another experience. It's a new experience hustling with my girl.
NM: I was just touring Europe and he kept saying, 'When are you coming home?, When are you coming home?' It's just not the same. But at the same time when we are working and we're not physically together, it just heightens that excitement for me to see him, because that's all I can think about is seeing him again. Now when we're on tour together it just feels like a dream come true. In so many ways.
GQ: You two seem to be two very strong personalities. What was it like in the beginning, figuring each other out?
MM: You know we were just figuring each other out. We liked each other. We were into each other. Once we learned how to understand each other, it was curtain closed. Everything was a go.
NM: People tell me all the time, it takes a special kind of man to be with a woman who has her own, and it takes a special kind of man to not feel insecure by a woman who is doing her own thing. You know? So, one of the things that made me want to be with him is we spent so much time talking, and he always made me feel like he was ok with me being me. As an artist and just as a woman. Obviously I'm a strong woman in a lot of ways… I'm not a strong woman in every way. I don't want to make it seem like I am some superhero because I'm not, but I do know that it takes a certain kind of guy. And time will tell if Meek is that kind of guy, because it's definitely not easy.
GQ: It's not easy dating Nicki Minaj?
NM: No. But I really respect that he was willing to give it a try. In the beginning he thought we could be in a relationship and I kept telling him no, I don't think he was ready. But he has a very strong mind and he was very convincing and persuasive.
MM: You liked me… I didn't have to persuade you. (laughs)
NM: But talking about being in a relationship? I didn't know if he was ready. I was apprehensive about that.
GQ: Meek, how do you get a girl like Nicki Minaj's attention?
MM: I don't know. Be you is all I can say. I like being myself.
GQ: Meek, that's bullshit. Come on, give us the secret.
MM: Seriously though: what do you want me to say? Being me, that's how I got her.
GQ: Did you take her on any special dates? Any special gestures?
MM: We'd do everything like what you do with your girlfriend. We do the same thing. Just chill.
NM: What was your secret, baby? Everybody wants to know that. I don't know though! Y'all want me to make up a magazine answer? I liked her. I felt her. I guess she felt me.
NM: What'd you like about me?
MM: That you was a hustler. That you were doing your thing. A lot of people coming up. People don't really have a girlfriend that's doing more than them or the same thing. I like girls that hustle. She a boss. She's pretty as fuck. Bad as shit. Ambitious. What else do you want?
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: When did the courting start? Not the relationship… the courting.
MM: About a year ago or something like that? I can't say for sure. Maybe a year and change.
[Nicki play-slaps Meek]
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 mind 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: So you basically got most people's dream girl from jail, Meek… You sure you don't want to tell us that secret?
MM: No, just keep it real. Keep it real with yourself and great things will happen. When keeping it real goes right, that's what we call it.
NM: We just spent so much time talking that I had such a strong mental connection. It was insane. We got so close.
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. 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.
MM: That we were faking. That was crazy to me. I've never been known for stunts in public that make me look better, you know what I'm saying?
NM: But also, the boy has been tweeting about me for how long?
MM: Five years!
NM: Right.
GQ: But a lot of guys tweet at you, Nicki.
MM: I could've picked a lot of rappers to tweet about. I have a whole rap about her. The entire city of Philadelphia knows it. If she were performing there by herself, they would sing it to her.
GQ: So you guys just had a huge Twitter moment. Nicki, you tweeted about being snubbed by the VMAs. Meek, you claimed Drake had a ghost writer. Both moments were controversial. Any regrets?
MM: I'm separate from that. I just wild out.
NM: And that's the thing people don't understand. Meek is a grown ass man. I may not agree with everything he says.
MM: She likes none of that shit. No matter who I'm talking to.
[To be fair and for the record: by almost every marker and standard, 'Anaconda' should have not only been nominated, but favorited to win a VMA for video of the year.]
NM: I'm very happy I tweeted about the VMAs, because 'Anaconda' had too much of a cultural impact to not be up. When these pop girls have a moment like that, they get nominated for every award, and they win it. And I was happy that people spoke out for me. People used their voices in the media to say this is true. Taylor Swift called and we're good now. She didn't see the bigger picture. We talked. We got over it. She called me and spoke about it, and I told her, I would never come at you. We're doing so well now collectively. And I want to thank God and my fans. And his fans. We don't have to do anything to anyone for any bogus reasons.
MM: And of course you know Meek Mill don't regret nothing.
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