Advertisement

Nicki Minaj, Jimmy Fallon swap awkward yearbook photos

Share

Nicki Minaj can transform herself all she wants — but that high school yearbook photo is not going away.

The “Anaconda” rapper swapped awkward portraits with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Tuesday night following this week’s release of her latest album, “The Pinkprint.”

The throwback snapshot was originally posted on Instragram by singer Beyoncé last week to wish Minaj a happy 32nd birthday. But Fallon wasn’t letting it lie and resurfaced the photo in an attempt to liven up what was an otherwise low-impact interview.

Advertisement

“Make me feel better because I do hate this picture, yes. Ew,” said Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj.

And he did make her feel better, or his crew did, by posting a yearbook photo of the lightly mustachioed “SNL” alum. As Sara “with no H” would say, ew!

Before becoming a rapper, “The Other Woman” actress originally pursued an acting career when she went to the performing-arts institution Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School -- the same school that rejected her offer to speak to students last September. The booty-baring emcee also shared that in her early days, she was dreadful employee when she worked as an office manager and sassed customers as a server at Red Lobster.

“That’s what made me want to hurry up and follow my dream because I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is not for me. I gotta hurry up and get out of here before it’s too late.’ Seriously,” she said.

The theatrical performer then started singing, she said, which she called “boring,” so she learned to rap “because that’s what the dudes were doing.”

“And I felt like if I could do what the guys did, I would be cooler, so I just started sharpening my skills on rap,” Minaj said.

Advertisement

And it worked. The spitfire MC scored two Grammy nominations earlier this month -- one for her pop duo performance of “Bang Bang” with Jessie J and Ariana Grande and another nod for rap song with “Anaconda.”

Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.

Advertisement