We thought Sean Combs entirely revamped rapper Nicki Minaj’s cartoonish image? Or maybe this VIBE cover was shot before he signed her to his management team? This excerpt from VIBE‘s cover story gives a little insight into the diection the ex-Barbie is going in:

“I’m not abandoning the funny voices. I just did a crazy tribute to ODB’s ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya,’” she says, perfectly impersonating the late Wu-Clansman. “But it’s coming up more with the album. I had a teacher in elementary who would stand on her table and whisper. We’d all turn around like, ‘What is this lunatic doing?’ But she would achieve what she wanted. She wanted us to stop talking and listen. I feel like I need to mellow it down so people can hear what I have to say.”

Source: Miss Jia